9 20 256 https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/1e88ba54e92ebceed38552667be7e580.jpg 4875f5318751eeeebb812c482336507a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Florida Courts Delayed by Controversy Over Death Penalty Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-11-23 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 .jpg Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Death Penalty Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Marbin, Carol Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant The jurisdiction of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Description An account of the resource . Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Palm Beach Post Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document For eight years the small crossroads town of Lake City has focused its outrage toward Starke, the prison town where Theodore Bundy awaits Florida's electric chair for the brutal murder of 12-year-old Kimberly Diane Leach. But Tuesday, Lake City turned its anger to Atlanta, where a three judge panel from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals halted the execution of Bundy, scheduled for that day. Lake City--and indeed, much of Florida, was still stinging from an 11th-hour stay granted Bundy by the Atlanta appeals court in July for his conviction in the murders of two Chi Omega sorority sisters at Florida State University. "I'm very hard pressed to explain to the average person on the street how our system can allow situations such as this," said State Attorney Jerry Blair, who prosecuted Bundy in the Leach slaying. "We've got some judicial activists there, and they are certainly perceived to have a bias toward death penalty cases, and the public is getting very frustrated." The 18 judges who sit on the 11th Circuit bench, which hears federal appeals from Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, have withstood much greater pressure--including a petition drive seeking the ouster of three of its members. In October, the House Judiciary Committee declined to recommend the impeachment of 11th Circuit Judges Frank Johnson, Thomas Clark and R. Lanier Anderson. The committee decided for the first time that federal judges could not be impeached on the basis of an unpopular judicial decision. The decision granted a new trial to two men sentenced to die in Georgia's electric chair for killing [end page] [start page] six members of the Alday family in Seminole County. It so outraged rural South Georgia that 100,000 people signed petitions seeking the impeachment of Johnson, Clark, and Anderson. Mike Mello is a defense attornry who has represented both Bundy and Nollie Lee Martin, convicted in the 1977 rapw and murder of a Boynton Beach convenience store clerk. Mello says he fears that outrage may have a "chilling effect" on the appeals court's independence. "That's the very reason why federal judges are appointed for life," Mello said. "The purpose is to remove the business of judging--especially judging emotionally laden, intense cases--from the political fray." Since the administration of Gov. Ruben Askew, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has issued 25 stays of execution for Florida death row inmates, compared to 18 stays from state circuit judges, 30 from the Florida Supreme Court, 54 by federal district court judges, eight from the U.S. Supreme C ourt and three from Gov. Bob Graham. The 25 stays are not a high proportion. Still, the appeals court's last minute stay of execution for Bundy--a former law student once accused of as many as 36 murders--prompted some people in the governors office to refer to the appeals court as a kind of bottleneck, slowing the process toward execution. "It's not kind of a bottleneck; it is a bottleneck," said Art Wiedinger, general counsel to Graham. Wiedinger suggested the Atlanta-based appeals court --and most of the federal court system--practices a kind of "legal fly-specking" that obscures the more important question of guilt or innocence in capital cases. "Most of the issues raised don't go to the search for truth or whether the person did it," Wiedinger said. "I'm not saying these are not important cases that need to be reviewed. But they are automatically reviwed by the Florida Supreme Court, and they don't need three or four or five reviews, which is the way we are now going." Graham said last week: "One thing that distinguishes a capital case from all other cases is that the accused has a strong interest in delay. "If one is serving 20 years for armed robbery, yu've got an incentive to want to expedite your appeal, because, if you're successful, you may get out of jail or get a new trial. In capital cases, people don't want to have finality because, if the finality is against them, they are going to be executed." Graham said the system must be changed, or "the whole process is going to be jammed." But Professor Steven Winter of the University of Miami Law School blames politicians, not judges, for the logjam of federal death appeals. Borrowing a metaphor from death penalty advocates, Winter argued that Graham has created the bottleneck himself by attempting to force more capital cases into the federal court pipeline than it was designed to handle. Graham signs as many as four death warrants every month. "There's a real question concerning the extent to which the system in Florida is affected by political concerns," Winter said. Three judges from the 11th Circuit expressed the same concern last month when--during oral arguments--they accused the Florida Attorney General's office of playing politics in its handling of Ted Bundy's Chi Omega murder case. In response, Attorney General Jim Smith charged that the three judges "verbally abused" Assistant Attorney General Gregory Costas and asked Chief Justice William Rehnquist to investigate the Oct. 23 incident. "These reported remarks were unwarranted and a significant departure from judicial impartiality," Smith charged in an Oct. 30 letter to Rehnquist. "I am especially at the court's hinting that, somehow, the state's position was more political than legal." Citing the incident, Blair, the Lake City prosecutor, suggested judges in the 11th Circuit have used their bench as a soapbox from which to fight capital punishment. "Unfortunately, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has a well-deserved reputation as a bastion of liberalism populated by people who have a philosophical disagreement with capital punishment and who use their public forum in court to promote their views on capital punishment," Blair said. "They are perceived in the eyes of many as frustrating the will of the people and, really, frustrating the criminal justice system." Criticism of the 11th Circuit's political philosophy dates back more than 20 years, before the circuit was even created. In 1981, the old 5th Circuit Court of Appeals--which included most of the Deep South--was split in half, with Florida, Georgia and Alabama joining the new 11th Circuit. Frank Johnson, who has sat on eight panels that granted stays to Florida death row inmates, cut his teeth judicially while a U.S. District Court judge in Montgomery Ala. Alabama Gov. George Wallace feuded bitterly with Johnson over his efforts to desegregate Alabama's public schools. Circuit Judge Elbert Tuttle, now on senior status, was one of a four member bloc of the old 5th Circuit--chronicled in former Circuit Judge Jack Bass's book Unlikely Heroes--who regularly challenged the Deep South's most well-rooted traditions, paticularly segregation. Tuttle and Johnson, who is a former U.S. Attorney, are considered by death penalty advocates and opponents to be members of a core of 11th Circuit Court judges with reservations about capital punishment. Still, many of the 11th Circuit's written opinions display not so much distaste for the death sentence as a desire that the ultimate penalty be administered fairly, Mello believes. Circuit Judge Joseph Hatchett, for instance, dissented from a decision not to hear the appeal of John Eldon Smith, condemned for the execution-style murder of a Bibb County, Ga., couple. Hatchett argued it was unfair for Smith to die when his wife, Rebecca, was given a life sentence for the same crime. Called the "death court" by Mello, the 11th Circuit hears more appeals from condemned inmates than any other--almost a third of the nation's total. "The 11th Circuit is an excruciatingly painful position because of the number of death cases it has to deal withcompared to any other circuit," said Bruce Winick, University of Miami Law School professor. "Judges in the 11th Circuit feel it in their bones, because these are the hardest cases." Some members of the legal system--including Graham, Smith, Blair and Georgia Attorney General Mike Bowers--support legislation that would set a two-year limit on habeas corpus petitions, thus allowing death row inmates two years after they are sentenced to appeal in federal court. "The federal courts, in effect, have been called upon to make virtually unrestricted review of state court convictions," Bowers said. "As long as that is the case, there will be an interminable delay in ultimately resolving death penalty cases." [image - Frank Johnson] [image - Elbert Tuttle] [image caption - Appeals court judges Framk Johnson (left) and Elbert Tuttle.] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Enos, Dan Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 'Death court' creates bottleneck of execution appeals, critics say Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Subject The topic of the resource Bundy, Theodore 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Capital punishment Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Description An account of the resource A newspaper account of the frustration felt by death penalty advocates at the slow appeals process, which they felt played into death row inmates motivation to extend their lives using drawn out appeals. The focus is on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which handled a disproportionately high number of death penalty appeals. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-11-23 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Palm Beach Post 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals death penalty Elbert Tuttle Frank Johnson Kimberly Diane Leach Mike Mello stay of execution Ted Bundy Theodore Bundy https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/06f2fa2b432616ee6ad541404e3c18b2.jpg 4f2c05017db6a82b877eedfe2a6bb8de Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [[Chair-image]] ‘The death penalty is a fact of life, if that isn’t an oxymoron’: North Carolina chair Lawyers go to the Supreme Court with what may be the final broad test of capital punishment When Gara LaMarche moved to Texas to become the new head of the state Civil Liberties Union, he felt a duty to participate in protests outside the capitol building on the night of executions. Two years later LaMarche and his colleagues don’t bother, allowing condemned killers to go to their deaths without benefit of public protest. “It’s the rare human being who can muster the same level of outrage for the 16th execution as for the first,” he says. “The death penalty is a fact of life, if that isn’t an oxymoron. It doesn’t mean that people don’t care—it’s that you have to focus your energies where they make a difference.” Those energies this week will be focused on the U.S. Supreme Court. Once again, carrying the hopes and fears of 1,788 inmates on the nation’s death rows, lawyers from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund will petition the court to strike down the death penalty, this time on grounds it is racially biased. The appeal promises to be the final skirmish of a long, rear-guard legal battle. “This is the last case that has the potential of clearing death row and getting rid of the death penalty,” says Mike Mello, a Florida defense lawyer. For 10 years foes of capital punishment have crafted sweeping appeals to the high court that, if successful, would have undermined dozens of death sentences. But just as regularly the court has rebuffed them, turning back ingenious claims that capital sentences were imposed in a disproportionate manner or that juries were tilted toward conviction by the elimination of potential jurors who expressed doubts about the death penalty. The cases before the court rest on the findings of researchers that killers of whites were much more likely to be condemned than killers of blacks. In a study of 2,484 Georgia homicides between 1973 and 1979, University of Iowa law Prof. David Baldus initially found that killers of whites were 11 times more likely to receive the death sentence. Determined to settle any doubts about the disparity, Baldus took another look at his piles of trial transcripts, appellate briefs, prison files, parole-board records, police reports and other documents. He reanalyzed his numbers to eliminate the statistical impact of cases with aggravating circumstances, such as those in which the murderers had long criminal records or had committed especially heinous deeds. And Baldus still concluded that killers of whites were more than four times more likely to get the death sentence than killers of blacks. Nationwide, 1,713 of the death-row inmates—about 96 percent—were killers of whites; 1,051 are themselves white. Lawyers for Warren McCleskey, a black man who killed a white police officer during a furniture-store robbery in Atlanta, used the Baldus study to appeal his sentence. But one federal court found the study flawed and another held that even if accurate it was not sufficiently compelling to eliminate other explanations for the disparate treatment of the murder defendant. On appeal to the high court, McCleskey’s lawyers will argue that the numbers are so convincing that state prosecutors should be required to explain the apparent disparities. Indeed, McCleskey’s defense lawyer, John Charles Boger, will argue that he wants the numbers treated as they are in other cases where a statistical inference is deemed sufficient for a finding of bias. “Evidence that would amply suffice if the stakes were a job promotion or the selection of a jury should not be disregarded when the stakes are life and death,” Boger says. Mary Beth Westmoreland, Georgia assistant attorney general, contends that the studies are unsound and inadequate. “There are simply too many unique factors relevant to each individual case to allow statistics to be an effective tool in providing intentional discrimination,” she argues. Georgia clearly is the favorite going into the hearing; several justices have been impatient and unsympathetic in recent years with the pace of executions. A companion case from Florida raises a related issue: does a condemned inmate have an automatic right to a hearing on claims of racial discrimination? A study of sentences in eight states, including Florida and Georgia, had shown a pattern similar to that which Baldus found. “The discrimination we found is based on the race of the victim, and it is a remarkably stable and consistent phenomenon,” explains Stanford law Prof. Samuel R. Gross. Winning on the hearing issue would give capital-punishment foes another delaying tactic, but one without much substantive bite if they lose the McCleskey appeal: attorneys would have to show overt acts of racial discrimination by prosecutors or jurors, something that is close to impossible. While the legal issues boil, execution has become a routine matter in a handful of states. “The executions are now back [in the newspapers] with the obituaries, which is where they belong,” says Texas prosecutor Cappy Eads, chairman of the National District Attorneys Association. “There’s less tendency to glamorize the executed defendant and more of a feeling that he got what he deserved.” And the pace is quickening; eight executions already this year in Texas and three others in Florida. But no state can keep up with the fresh supply of condemned inmates, 31 each in Florida and Texas since January, nearly all of whom, if they can find lawyers, will resist in the courts the trip down the Last Mile. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Magazine Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Kacoyanis, Leah Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Death Row: Last Skirmish Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McDaniel, Ann Pedersen, Daniel Prout, Linda Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Newsweek Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-10-20 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Washington Houston Miami Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment--America Description An account of the resource A magazine article that discusses capital punishment in America and how lawyers are trying to get rid of it. capital punishment death penalty defense lawyer Gara LaMarche Mike Mello Warren McCleskey https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/39a98655ad64cee8e1af83df1ffbaf1b.jpg 15be4435ae982b9aa6ab4e49c2044e16 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [image - Supreme Court political cartoon drawing] Some people say the composition of the Supreme Court defies political labels. But those who oppose the death penalty are not among that number, and a recent decision that allows prosecutors to exclude capital punishment abolitionists is confirmation that the justices are primarily a conservative lot. The court’s decisions and its logic are riddled with contradictions. Justice Thurgood Marshall, the only Black member on the court and the most consistent, said the death penalty ruling gives “the prosecution license to empanel a jury” to virtually insure a guilty verdict. Marshall was joined by Justices William Brennan and John Paul Stevens in dissenting from the 6-3 majority decision. “Because I believe that such a blatant disregard for the rights of a capital defendant offends logic, fairness and the Constitution, I dissent,” Marshall wrote. He added that “the court upholds a practice that allows the state a special advantage in those prosecutions where the charges are the most serious and the possible punishments the most severe.” On April 30, one week earlier, the court handed down three important decisions regarding criminal prosecution. In one instance, which has been praised as a step forward by civil rights organizations, the justices rightly ruled that prosecutors cannot exclude Blacks from juries on the basis of race. The decision limits the use of peremptory challenges, which in the past could not be questioned. Now a minority defendant may object to such a challenge, and the prosecutor has the burden of convincing the judge that the challenge is not racially motivated. Though Marshall agreed that the ruling is a “historic step toward eliminating the shameful practice of racial discrimination in the selection of juries, it did not go far enough.” Once challenged, contended Marshall, “any prosecutor can easily assert . . . neutral reasons for striking a juror, and trial courts are ill-equipped to second-guess those reasons.” It is well known that district attorneys have abused peremptory challenges to stack juries, so that Black defendants are usually judged by all-white panels. “The misuse of peremptories has become the standard method for excluding Blacks from jury service,” said Steve Ralston of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. “The problem is nationwide in scope,” he added. But, as Marshall pointed out, the ruling should have been stronger. Instead, the decision exemplifies the half-hearted fairness that represents the best we can expect from the current majority. On the other hand, while the court is open to some long overdue concessions in the racially biased structure of the trial system, there is a deeply ingrained hostility against death-row prisoners. “Most disturbing,” says Mike Mello of Florida’s Capital Collateral Representatives, “was the tone of the ruling and the cavalier way the court approached the situation. It was another example of the court’s unwillingness to consider any systematic assault on the death penalty,” concludes Mello, who is an attorney for many of the state’s 200 prisoners on death row. At one time a trial judge could exclude anyone who happened to express the mildest reservation concerning the death penalty. But in 1968 the court ruled that only those who refused to vote for a death sentence were to be excluded—not from participating in the trial, only in the process of passing sentence. Now, any prospective juror who is against the death penalty can be barred from a capital case. “It is outrageous,” declared Henry Schwartzchild, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Capital Punishment Project. Mello said the decision forces attorneys for death-row prisoners into mainly “rearguard challenges.” “We are forced to avoid anything,” Mello told the Guardian, “that raises general issues and simply deal on a case-by-case basis.” As a consequence, most of the 1750 prisoners currently on death row have lost virtually all grounds for appealing their sentences. And that means the rate of executions will pick up sharply. In addition, we can expect a lot more convictions with death sentences, as prosecutors are given a freer hand to pick jurors predisposed to that outcome. That’s not justice—that’s lynch law. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Magazine Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Reschke, Daniel Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lynch law justice Subject The topic of the resource Lynch law Capital punishment--United States--Periodicals Jury selection--United States Description An account of the resource A magazine article that discusses the United States Supreme Court's decision on attorneys' usage of peremptory challenges for minority jurors when the defendant is also a minority. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Guardian (New York) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-05-14 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant United States Henry Schwartzchild John Paul Stevens Mike Mello Steve Ralston Thurgood Marshall William Brennan https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/5b03081c77576e986379a740eb8e19cc.jpg 75420f5b5334936911d250f3cf0cf3a9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Stewart, James Text Any textual data included in the document The Florida Flambeau is published by the Florida Flambeau Foundation, Inc., an independent, non-profit corporation which is solely responsible for the contents of the paper. Florida Flambeau Foundation, Inc., Newsroom, 505 S. Woodward Avenue, phone 681-6695; Mailing address, P.O. Box 20287, Tallahassee, Florida, 32316. Eileen M. Drennen.............Editor Moni Basu..........Editor Designate Joe Pankowski, Jr....Sports Editor Rodney Campbell..Ast. Sports Ed. J.L. Branch..............Arts Editor B.G. Dilworth...Asst. Arts Editor Deborah Thomas..............Photo Editor Staff: Kathy Armistead, Pete Butler, John Dixon, G. Alan Fineout, Linda Hall, Ted Hardin, Steve Johnson, John Lowndes, Jack McCarthy, Mia Lucas, Mike Odgen, Bill Otersen, D.K. Roberts, Jeffrey Romance, Barrington Salmon, Mark Stevens, Mark Sullivan, Maria Telli, Don Watz, Nancy Wonder, Linda Young Words can come back to haunt you. Listen to Gov. Bob Graham at the dedication of the Viet Nam War Memorial in Nov. 11, 1985. He mourns the 386,000 Floridians who gave their lives in service to their country during the Viet Nam War, and recognizes how the experience "marked" the lives of those who didn't lose their lives there: "Today we take a giant step in the healing process. . . We say to all who served, welcome home—and we express our heart-felt gratitude for your bravery and spirit of sacrifice. . . We who live in freedom salute you, as we commemorate those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Your actions speak more eloquently than our words, even a decade or more later...Many have fought to overcome the physical as well as the spiritual effects of that conflict. The contributions the Viet Nam veterans are making today is powerful testimony to their character, and to their talent." Listen to Graham defending his decision to ignore the last wish of an ex-Marine—one of those Florida veterans he's so proud of. The vet is the first ever to face the electric chair in America, and is compelling evidence of how the war and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder turned him into a broken heroin addict, sending him ever downward, until he kills two people in a Jacksonville bar and winds up on Death Row. Listen to Graham tell the man, as he told us at the dedication ceremony last year, that time has opened the eyes of the American public to the ultimate sacrifice he and all veterans made for us, and how anxious we are to try and pay them back: Sure, PTSD is a problem—but he had his chance at raising the issue before the court already, and there is no reason to bring it up again. But, David Livingston Funchess' claims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder were never heard by the jury that convicted him of murder. His friends and family from Jacksonville, who saw him come back from the war a stranger, were never given the opportunity to tell the court what they knew. No one cared then; no one cares now. Least of all the man who claimed to honor this veteran, but turned a deaf ear to his last request on this earth. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Graham's gratitude Description An account of the resource An article about Florida Gov. Bob Graham's speech at the dedication of the Vietnam memorial and how Graham ignored the last wishes of David Livingston Funchess, a veteran convicted to the electric chair. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-04-23 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida, United States Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Florida Flambeau Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Subject The topic of the resource Post-traumatic stress disorder Graham, Bob 1936- Veterans--Vietnam Death Row electric chair Florida Florida veterans Vietnam veterans https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/571ea5a9632db8c671036f98f3cafd88.jpg e2e3b117e416239dad60eb91290d7471 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document David Livingston Funchess, a decorated Viet Nam war veteran, died in Florida's electric chair Tuesday afternoon after Gov. Bob Graham refused him executive clemency and the U.S. Supreme Court denied him a stay of execution. Funchess had originally been scheduled to die at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning but a panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal in Atlanta granted him a five-hour stay so the High Court would have time to rule on the case. The Supreme Court delayed the execution another five hours but voted 7-2 to reject the appeal. Following a two-minute surge of 2,000 volts, Funchess, 39, was pronounced dead at 5[:]11 p.m. He is the 15th man to die in the state's electric chair since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 and the first Viet Nam veteran to be executed in the nation. When asked by prison officials if he wanted to make a last statement to the press, Funchess said "No." Defense attorneys argued the ex-Marine suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder-a recently recognized war-induced mental illness-at the time he was convicted for two 1974 Jacksonville bar murders. In their court appeals and request for executive clemency from the governon, they said PTSD was never mentioned during Funchess' 1975 trial or sentencing. "This man came back from Viet Nam in real bad shape," said Tom Fischer, a member of Veterans for Peace who spent one year in Viet Nam. "That was never considered in court. We're protesting the fact that he was executed without considering that. To ignore it is to ignore him as a human being." Fischer and 30 others gathered for a second time at the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial across from the Old Capitol on Monroe Street for a vigil following the execution Tuesday afternoon. The group had protested the execution earlier at a noon vigil. Fischer told reporters that if the governor or other politicians who were present at the dedication of the war monument last November had respect for those who fought in Viet Nam, they would have reconsidered Funchess' case. "Not long ago, when this (the memorial) was built, Gov. Graham and other politicians stood here and said that it was time to separate the warriors from the war," said Fischer, adding Graham had reneded on that statement by not considering Funchess' Viet Name experiences. "I don't consider Graham a friend of Viet Nam vets." Despite appeals from defense attorneys, Graham refused executive clemency to Funchess Monday. The governor's legal advisor Art Weidinger said the effects of PTSD on the former soldier had already been presented to Graham at his first clemency hearing in 1982. "He (Graham) didn't believe PTSD was a factor in considering clemency," Weidinger said Tuesday. He said Graham feels Funchess' case has been litigated fully in the courts. But Michael Mello, a lawyer for Capital Collateral Review--a state-funded agency that represents indigent Death Row inmates--said the issue at hand was that PTSD had not been presented as mitigating evidence to the jury that tried Funchess for murder in 1975. He said PTSD had not even been recognized as a genuine illness back then, but regardless of that, Funchess' trial lawyers should have included his 1967 tour of Viet Nam as part of the evidence. "That's where it (the evidence) counted," said Mello. "Once you've already been convicted, there's a real inertia to commute the death sentence to life in prison. David's trial lawyer could have done more--the jury could have been told he was a decorated war hero, they could have been told about his childhood. All of that would've been incredible mitigating evidence to the jury even though PTSD had not been diagnosed," Mello said. According to court affidavits, Funchess never committed a crime before going to Viet Name. But he returned from Southeast Asia a drastically changed man. At the late afternoon vigil, people looked at their watches. it was 5:20. "It must be over by now," one woman told another. Others held each other and wept. Still others stared at the color photograph of Funchess in his Marine uniform placed atop a basket of flowers. The group formed a circle in between the two huge granite columns that for the war monument. Rev. Jim Hardison, a coordinator of the death penalty project for Florida IMPACT--an interfaith lobby group for social justice issues--said he was angered not by capital punishment per se but by the way the state administers it. "Again we've taken a poor, penniless, minority person who was mentally ill and executed him," Hardison said. Other present said they felt compelled to speak. "We're really appalled by your callous indifference toward David Funchess," said Linda Reynolds, Director of the Florida Clearinghouse on Criminal Justice, referring to the governor. "Viet Nam veterans will not forget what you've done today.["] "David Funchess was killed twice by society," Reynolds said. "Once in Viet Nam and once today." A United Press International story was used to compile this report. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Vol. No./Issue No. Volume and issue number for the newspaper (if available) Vol. 73, No. 148 Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Daniel, Michael Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Florida kills Viet Nam vet in electric chair Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Basu, Moni Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Florida Flambeau Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-04-22 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Tallahassee, Florida Description An account of the resource David Funchess was the first U.S. Vietnam Vet to be executed by a state. Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpg capital punishment Vietnam veterans https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/8ee509b6b058ffa5ad54aa01cd95f17c.jpg 5dafb906475d652eb6d02e2b0e3ebdaa Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document JACKSONVILLE, Fla., April 7 (AP) — On the eve of his execution date in November 1984, Gary Alvord was interviewed by three psychiatrists who asked him about his understanding of of how and why he was to die in the electric chair. The doctors reported their findings to Gov. Bob Graham. He decided Mr. Alvord did not understand the impending punishment, so the inmate was sent to a state mental institution. This month, in a separate capital punishment case, the United States Supreme Court is to hear arguments on whether the Constitution protects the mentally incompetent from execution and whether Florida's method of determining competence is proper. The Florida law says that if the inmate "understands the nature of the death penalty and why it is to be imposed on him" he can be executed. A 'Narrow and Precise' Issue "That's a very, very narrow and precise thing," said Dr. David Taubel, director of mental health for the State Department of Corrections. "If a person knows he is going to be executed because he killed a person, he fits the definition of competence in the law." Opponents say the law improperly leaves the decision to the Governor, in this case one who has ordered more than 100 execution, 13 of which have been carried out. Dick Burr, a public defender, said: "We believe the decision of competence should be made by a judge, not by the Governor. The Governor of this state is too pro-death. The decision should be decided by a neutral judicial process." Another Man Awaits Outcome Mr. Burr had raised the competency question on behalf of Alvin Ford, another death row inmate. His is the case the Supreme Court is scheduled to review. Mr. Ford's lawyers say that since he entered prison 11 years ago for the 1974 killing of a Fort Lauderdale police officer he has gone insane and is "flamboyantly schizophrenic." The state maintains that Mr. Ford is mentally competent to be executed. Also awaiting the court's ruling will be Aubrey Dennis Adams Jr., who was determined fit to be executed by a panel of psychiatrists who examined him March 6. His attorneys say the inmate has amnesia and does not remember the day in January 1978 that an 8-year-old Ocala girl was strangled, the death for which he was convicted. Dr. Ernest Miller, one of the psychiatrists who examined Mr. Adams, said competency should be decided in a court setting "and stand the test of adversarial proceedings." "Let the psychiatrists defend their reasoning," said Dr. Miller, of University Hospital in Jacksonville. In a recent interview, Governor Graham said the issue was whether the inmate understood what the punishment was while execution was imminent. "It's not a question of guilt or innocence," he added. Dr. George Barnard, a University of Florida psychiatrist who participated in one panel considering competence and vows never to do it again, said that no clear standards governed what the psychiatrists should do and how they should report and that a more detailed examination was needed. In Mr. Adam's case the psychiatrists asked him if he knew why they were examining him, if he understood the execution process, his feelings about his family, what he remembered about the day of the crime, what his trial defense was and what he had for lunch the day before, said Michael Radelet, a sociologist at the University of Florida. "They didn't gather enough information or the right information," said Mr. Radelet, who sat in on the interview. Mike Mello, who helped defend Mr. Adams, questioned how three psychiatrists could rule that he was competent to die in the hour they spent with him in what he called a "circus environment." They psychiatrists reported to the Governor's office. Governor Graham determined that Mr. Adams could die the next morning. The execution was stayed by the Supreme Court. Mr. Mello, who researched the competency issue in the Adams and Ford cases, sail all that defense attorneys wanted was "a fair determination of competency." Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Steele, Andrew Notes Additional information regarding your item. This content will not be viewable in the Public View. The duplication of 'of' in the first paragraph is present in the original, as is the omission of a comma between 'was' and 'and' in the 17th paragraph. "They psychiatrists" is "The psychiatrists" in original text- James Stewart Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Florida Challenged on Determining Sanity of Condemned Inmates Description An account of the resource Determining whether a person is competent to be executed should be left to judges and not governors. Psychiatrists have no real guidelines for examining the competence of a death row inmate. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The New York Times Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-04-08 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Jacksonville, FL Subject The topic of the resource Ford, Alvin E. (Alvin Earle), 1937- Prisoners--Mental health services. United States. Supreme Court. Alvin Ford Aubrey Dennis Adams Jr. Bob Graham David Taubel Dick Burr Ernest Miller Florida Fort Lauderdale Gary Alvord George Barnard Jacksonville Michael Radelet Mike Mello Ocala Supreme Court University of Florida https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/9673bb57072622209461797ee03ab40d.jpg e8f50edc45e660aa1fd81170b90ad97f https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/68df457b36014a2f02f30c5810e8e09e.jpg 1cd43411217c07114149f6d7b410ac09 https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/a0286f09949f613d43e7ae6b27b4706e.jpg 57b610ebe113b0cf8f1732aecbd1c2aa Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document In a first-degree murder case, when a judge and a jury don’t see eye-to-eye on the sentence, as has occurred at least five times in the last seven years in Escambia County, the judge gets the last word. In four local cases, judges overrode jury recommendations for life in prison and imposed the death penalty, deciding that aggravating circumstances outweighed mitigating circumstances. And in one case, a judge overrode a jury recommendation for the death penalty and imposed a life sentence. It’s a system that Chief Escambia Circuit Judge M.C. Blanchard would like to see changed: He’s in favor of proposed legislation that would require judges to follow jury recommendations for life sentences but would allow them to override jury recommendations for death. “It would help a great deal in keeping our death penalty constitutional.” He said, adding that the jury should have access to the same pre-sentence information – currently, some of it is confidential – that the judge has in determining the sentence. Here’s a rundown of the five local cases: In 1978, Judge George Lowrey ignored a jury’s advice and sentenced to death Thomas McCampbell, convicted in the murder of Winn-Dixie security guard Buddy Ray. The Florida Supreme Court later upheld the conviction but reversed the death sentence. In 1979, Judge William Frye overruled a jury recommendation for a life sentence and imposed the death penalty on Marvin Edwin Johnson, Convicted in the killing of Warrington pharmacist Woodrow Moulton. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the conviction and sentence, and Johnson is on death row. In 1980, in a rare reverse decision, Frye overrode a jury recommendation for death and sentenced Edward Clifton Cleveland to life in prison for murdering a 15-year-old runaway girl and then dismembering her body and placing some parts in sealed garbage bags. In 1983, Judge Joseph Tarbuck overrode a jury recommendation for life and sentenced to death Anthony Brown, accused in the murder of Veteran’s Gas Co. delivery man James Dasinger. Three weeks ago, after a retrial won on a technicality, Brown was acquitted, the result of the star prosecution witness flip-flopping on his testimony. Also in 1983, Judge William Rowlet overrode a jury’s recommendation and sentenced to death William Eutzy, convicted in the murder of West Hill Taxi Stand driver Herman Hughley. The Florida Supreme Court upheld that conviction, and Eutzy is on death row. Exactly what goes through a jury’s mind during its secret proceedings is difficult to determine; by contrast, judges are required by law to provide a written explanation for imposition of the death penalty. What follows is a look back at the Johnson and Brown cases. In court testimony, Warrington Pharmacy employee Gary Summitt, an eyewitness, gave this account of Marvin Johnson’s armed robbery and murder of Woodrow MoultonL Summitt went to the back of the store to as Moulton a question and found Johnson holding a gun on Moulton and ordering him to fill a bag with drugs and money. After obtaining what he wanted, Johnson started toward the front of the store, and Moulton grabbed a gun from behind the prescription counter. There was an exchange of gunfire, with Moulton firing at Johnson until his gun was emptied. No longer able to defend himself, Moulton stood up with his hands in the air. Johnson walked to within a foot and a half of him, said, “You think you’re a smart son-of-a-bitch, don’t you?”, shot him in the chest and fled. The jury after finding Johnson guilty, recommended that Judge Frye impose a life sentence. Instead, Frye sentenced Johnson to death, a decision that was upheld in a split decision by the Florida Supreme Court. Interviews last week with jurors indicate some were pleased with Frye’s decision and others were not. “I didn’t want to have a guilty conscience, even though I thought he deserved death,” said Rugby Watford. “I was glad the judge did what he did.” “I just don’t believe you can (sentence him to death) on one witness,” said Doroth Grissom. “I said maybe he did it. We really didn’t feel he deserved that chair.” “One of the questionsthey asked the jurors was whether we could impose the death sentence, and we all said yes then when it was time to decide, a lot of the jurors said their religious beliefs wouldn’t let them vote for the death penalty,” said Constance Fletcher. “To me, that’s an obstruction of justice. I was really upset. I was so happy when the judge overruled us.” “(Johnson) went in with the intention of getting drugs, not with the intention of shooting (Moulton),” said Pearl Middlecoff. “If Moulton hadn’t shot at him, he would be alive today . . . I put myself in (Johnson’s) position. I probably would have done the same thing. I think the judge was very much out of place.” Frye, who had found five aggravating factors and no mitigating factors, said he has no second thoughts about his decision. “Moulton was out of ammunition and holding up hs hands. Point-blank, 2 or 3 feet away, he fired right through his heart. That was a cold-blooded murder,” he said. In the Supreme Court appeal, four justices concurred with Frye that “death is the appropriate sentence to be imposed for this atrocious and cruel execution murder committed during the commission of an armed robbery by an escaped convict who previously had been convicted of felonies involving the use of threat or violence.” Three justices dissented, saying that “the fusillade of pistol shots initiated by the victim and the apparent conscious act of the appellant to spare the two other occupants of the premises from kidnapping or murder support a reasoned judgment by the jury in favor of a life sentence.” Frye pointed out that in the Cleveland case, he overrode the jury in the opposite direction because the case law prevented him from considering that the body was cut into pieces after death. “I knew it was a risky thing to do in a political sense,” he said, “but I could not sentence that man to death knowing it was against the law . . . The jury (got) all inflamed because it was so gruesome.” The case against Anthony Brown, accused in the first-degree murder of Veteran’s Gas Co. deliveryman James Dasinger, rested largely on the testimony of co-defendant Wyndell Rogers, who pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder in exchange for his testimony. During the first trial, Rogers said Brown set up Dasinger to make a delivery in a sparsely populated area of Cantoment and then killed him with a shotgun blast to the chest. The jury found Brown guilty and recommended a life sentence; but Judge Tarbuck, finding the four aggravating factors, sentenced him to death. On a reversal unrelated to his sentence, the Florida Supreme Court granted Brown a new trial. And at that trial, after Rogers recanted his testimony and said Brown was not even present when Dasinger was killed, a jury found him innocent. “That’s a lesson that a judge should never impose the death penalty on the basis of one person’s testimony,” said Micheal Mello, a Tallahassee attorney who has handled several death override appeals. “It sends shivers up my spine.” Bob Dennis, Brown’s defense attorney at the first trial, agrees. “I don’t think a person should be sentenced to death unless the evidence is absolutely clear, unless there’s a smoking gun,” he said. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Escambia Cases Show Examples Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Graybiel, Ginny Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived News Journal Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Description An account of the resource News article describing the death penalty, judicial override, and examples from past cases that had examples of these issues. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Language A language of the resource English Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 3 JPG death penalty Florida Supreme Court Judicial Override https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/509c933a7dedae9b003f9fa7dcdc2ef4.jpg ea4fe3b3bbff4ed60843e0d8fdb1d338 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document ATLANTA — The execution of a convict who was under 18 at the time he committed the crime would violate evolving standards of decency established by history and law, an attorney argued before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday. Mike Mello represented Florida Death Row inmate Paul Magill, who was 17 when he was charged with first-degree murder, rape and armed robbery of a 25-year-old Marion County convenience store clerk. "If the state says he is too immature to vote, too immature to buy liquor for another four years, too immature to go to jai alai and bet, too immature to enter into a contract, too immature to make out a will . . . the state can't turn around and say you're mature enough to be executed," Mello argued. But Margene Roper, an assistant Florida attorney general, said Mello's characterization of his client pales against "the brutal savage act of murder" committed by Magill. "You can't say that no one knows murder isn't evil . . . simple immaturity is not going to excuse that act," she said. "The capital punishment of a juvenile is a fair form of retribution for a crime that so defiles the dignity of the community," Ms. Roper said. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Phillips, Lydia Notes Additional information regarding your item. This content will not be viewable in the Public View. Found on A-7 Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lawyers Argue Over Executing Young Slayers Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment--Georgia Description An account of the resource An article on the execution of juveniles in the state of Florida by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Times-Union and Journal Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-03-29 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 jpg Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant United States 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals capital punishment court court case Florida Georgia Juvenile Mike Mello minor https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/51d2b6abad1d9c34bfb93e226f15c85c.jpg 86e21058760a8fe3bae0a811e3e52747 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Court Refuses to Grant Delay in Execution Subject The topic of the resource Adams, Aubrey Dennis Jr. Thornley, Trisa Gail Supreme Court cases Description An account of the resource Associated Press article about an attempt to delay the execution of Aubrey Dennis Adams Jr., who was convicted of the murder of Trisa Gale Thornley. Mike Mellow was the defense attorney for Adams, and wanted to get the execution delayed in order to appeal the guilty verdict on the grounds that the jury was biased. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Associated Press Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Unknown Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available History 298 at the University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource n.d. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 jpeg Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 101 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Washington D.C Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document The United States Supreme Court refused to grant a delay in the execution of Aubrey Dennis Adams last week. Adams stands convicted of killing eight year old Trisa Gail Thornley in 1978. It is said that Adams was acquainted with the young girl's family, and was responsible for making an "obscene" phone call to her family after kidnapping and killing her. Thornley was found dead in a wooded area on March 15, 1978. Adams' attorneys are filing for an appeal on the grounds that they believe the jury was not picked properly, and was biased as an effect. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Moncure-Williams, Mackie Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Court Refuses to Grant Delay in Execution Subject The topic of the resource Adams, Aubry Dennis Jr. Thornley, Trisa Gail Supreme Court Cases Description An account of the resource This source is about a man named Aubry Dennis Adams, who was given the death penalty after being convicted of murder. Mike Mello was his defense attorney, and was attempting to get Adam's case reheard on the grounds that the jury was biased. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Moncure-Williams, Mackie Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-03-18 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 101 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Washington D.C Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/c977f03a78fa88ce28788f6b4996f4c0.jpg 631b8e7f3ca5fa37e76a7c755776de61 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Vol. No./Issue No. Volume and issue number for the newspaper (if available) Florida Flambeau Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Goode, Claire Text Any textual data included in the document The attorney for two death row inmates just granted last-minute stays of execution says Florida may not be allowed to execute any more prisoners until the U.S. Supreme Court decides on a crucial legal issue now under consideration. Michael Mello, who defended both Paul Beasley Johnson and Edward Dean Kennedy for the state’s capital collateral appeals office, said most executions will be on hold until the court rules on the fairness of allowing prosecutors to dismiss jurors who express strong opposition to capital punishment. Several jurors were dismissed on those grounds in the trials of Johnson and Kennedy. Both Johnson and Kennedy had been scheduled for execution early today. Kennedy received a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, and Johnson received a stay from Florida’s highest court early Monday. In both cases, Mello based his appeal for stays on the fairness of the challenge law. “I’m absolutely ecstatic. I don’t see how they can kill anybody now, with these issues,” Mellow said. “What they’ve been doing nationally is granting stays in every case where this applies,” he said. “It’s evident to me the U.S. Supreme Court has decided no one is going to die until they settle this issue.” The case in question-Lockhart v. McCree- was argued before the court on Jan. 13, Mello said. The court does not have a set deadline on reaching a decision, he said, but is expected to rule before its current term ends on June 30. Johnson was sentenced to death for the January 1981 murders of William Evans, Darrell Ray Beasley and Deputy Sheriff Theron Burnham in Polk County. Court records state Johnson shot Evans twice and robbed him after the taxi driver picked him up outside a Winter Haven theater late at night on Jan. 8. Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Future executions hinge on Supreme Court case Subject The topic of the resource Mello, Michael Death row Supreme Court decisions--United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-02-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida Description An account of the resource This newspaper clipping is an article detailing how the undecided nature of the Supreme Court case, Lockhart v. McCree, has allowed Mello to successfully appeal for stays of execution for two of his clients on death row. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Florida Flambeau Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource United Press International Death Row Edward Dean Kennedy Florida Death Row Lockhart v. McCree Michael A. Mello Paul Beasley Johnson Supreme Court https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/8fc571872b7d99e3ecde2a025d607162.jpg 60ae4cc7268439ed2bc59100a07ca2d0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document "We're a hang 'em high state," attorney Jim Green says. And the Palm Beach County lawyer is not alone in his assessment. Florida has been dubbed the nation's capital punishment capital because of its high number of executions-13, more than any other state since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1977. It is not just the executions that trouble Green, who is well-known for his advocacy of controversial causes. It is a provision of Florida law that allows judges to override jury recommendations for life in capital punishment cases. Green and many others, including the Florida Academy of Trial Lawyers and the Florida Bar Association, want the law changed. They don't want judges to be able to throw out a jury's recommendation of life imprisonment and order a defendant to his or her death. Death cases are automatically reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court, and nearly four-fifths of the decisions to override the jury's recommendation of a life sentence have been reversed on appeal. But those who favor restrictions on the judge's right to override don't find this fact comforting. The American Civil Liberties Union, of which attorney Green is a state board member, says the current system is inefficient and expensive, not to mention "highly questionable." "If there can be any justification for capital punishment, it's retribution," Green says. Empirically, there is no conventional data that capital punishment acts as a deterrent. The only arguable justification in light of this is retribution. The death penalty reflects community outrage. Our system of justice placed the determination of community outrage in the hands of juries as opposed to judges. [image - Carolyn Susman] "And 93 percent of judges are white males. It seems somewhat anomalous for us to allow juries which tend to reflect a fair cross-section of the community to be overriden by a judicial system that is overwhelmingly white male." A bill has been filed again this year by Rep. James Burke (D-Miami) that would make a recommendation of life imprisonment binding [on the] court. Last year, the bill made it out [of] two of three Senate committees. Supporters hope that, with the backing of the Florida Bar Association this year, it will do better. Only three states in the nation-Florida, Alabama, and Indiana-give judges the right to override jury recommendations of life in death penalty cases. "Florida is the only state that employs the override frequently, despite the fact the Florida juries are among the most death-prone," wrote Michael Mello, in an article in the Florida State University Law Review last spring. Mello was on the staff of the Palm Beach County public defender's office until October, when he joined a newly formed group in Tallahassee that was created by the Legislature to ensure that inmates on death row get representation when they need it. So far, there is only one case in Florida where a jury override has resulted in death: Ernest Dobbert. In 1984, Dobbert was executed, despite the fact the jury had voted 10-2 for life imprisonment. Mello says two other cases, which also were overrides, are nearing the end of their appeals and a third defendant, sentenced to death the same way, "is at very serious risk." Palm Beach County Chief Assistant Public Defender Craig Barnard can recall only one case here where a judge overrode a jury's recommendation of life, and Barnard has been with the public defender's office since 1974. The case was that of Jackson Burch, who was found guilty in 1973 of the murder of an 18-year-old Palm Beach Junior College student, Pamela Curry. The jury override became law in 1972. Circuit Judge Vaughn Rudnick's decision to sentence Burch to death was reversed by the state Supreme Court in 1977. "This county seems fairly rational when it comes to juries and the ultimate sanction," Barnard, who specializes in death-row cases, said. Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Marvin Mounts Jr. employed an override in the Michael Nelson case in 1982 to sentence Nelson to life in prison, instead of death, for the murder of his wife Linda. But even though he has never used an override to reverse a recommendation for life in prison, Mounts has doubts about whether the override when life is recommended should be removed. "Anytime you do anything inflexible, the first case that comes along should be the exception. I've been working with juries 26, 27 years. You usually weed out the bigots in the selection process. You get good people who are conscientious and really care. But I think the Supreme Court has been good on riding herd on the imposition of the death penalty." [end page] A bill has been filed again this year by Rep. James Burke (D-Miami) that would make a recommendation of life imprisonment binding on the court. [image - James Burke] [end page] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Dinger, Francesca Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Capital-Case Judges' Override Powers Trouble Lawyer Subject The topic of the resource Criminal law--Florida Description An account of the resource Attorney Jim Green supports a bill filed by Rep. James Burke that would overturn Florida's law which allows judges to issue death sentences against juries' recommendations. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Susman, Carolyn Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Palm Beach Post Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-02-16 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida capital punishment death penalty Florida https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/b524924c56ae49175450e4a4a79de8f5.jpg 02563f743b87d4f439d5a772ea8296ee Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document The Committee on Individual Rights and Responsibilities concentrated its efforts this year on legislative matters. Under the guidance of member Michael Mello, the committee studied and voted to support the “jury override” bill. The proposal would revise the death penalty statute to require that a jury recommendation of mercy in capital cases be binding on the court. The bill was presented to the Bar’s Legislation Committee, which recommended that the Board of Governors support it. The Board approved lobbying efforts by The Florida Bar in active support of the jury override bill during the 1986 session. The second bill supported by the committee was drafted by Abbey Hairston’s Subcommittee on Employee Rights. The original proposal would have created a cause of action for any employee wrongfully terminated for notifying authorities of illegal activities conducted by his or her employer. Opposition from the Corporation, Banking and Business Law Section resulted in a revision to the bill which limited its applicability to public employees. The Individual Rights Committee received approval from the Board of Governors to lobby for the revised proposal. Other issues studied by the committee this year included the rights of AIDS victims. Member Allen Terl provided the committee with specific instances of discrimination against AIDS victims and agreed to chair a subcommittee to determine how the committee can most effectively minimize this threat to individual rights. The three substantive areas of greatest interest to members continue to be privacy rights, employees’ rights, and individual rights in medical matters. Other issues discussed during this year’s committee meetings were children’s rights, victims’ rights, the rights of aliens, and collateral appeals in capital cases. In January, the committee voted to support both legislative and judicial efforts to prohibit the imposition of the death penalty on defendants under the age of 18. This issue has been agendaed for future study and action. The scope of the term “privacy rights” has made it difficult for the committee to focus its efforts in this area. Specific issues of interest to members include computer intrusion, fingerprinting of children, and mandatory lie detector tests. The committee will continue to study these issues. The committee rejected a suggestion that a public interest section be formed within the Bar and voted that individual rights and responsibilities remain a standing committee. Similarly situated committees adopted the same position. The committee has discussed forming a subcommittee on the responsibility of attorneys to apprise the public of both their responsibilities and rights as citizens. It is hoped that this project will gain momentum in the coming year. Members who have actively participated in the committee’s work this year have found that participation to be extremely rewarding. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Journal Article Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Keene, Shannon Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Individual Rights and Responsibilities Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pequignot, Margot Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 jpg 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida Description An account of the resource An article about various bills and interests that the Committee on Individual Rights and Responsibilities in the Florida Bar supports. Subject The topic of the resource Florida--Committee on Individual Rights and Responsibilities--Member Interests Florida--Bar Legislation Committee--Bills Individual Rights--Florida Florida Individual Rights Michael A. Mello Responsibilities https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/7ce55e29fe10a71c17fa2aaf0b1ddc9e.jpg ddce2c6ed0eba93c18a7638b20ee2a88 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document The Florida Bar will lobby for removing judges’ power to override juries to impose death penalties and for appointing all trial judges, as part of its 1986 legislative program. The Bar’s Trial Lawyers Section will also support increasing juror compensation. The Board of Governors delayed a decision on a constitutional amendment to abolish residency requirements for Supreme Court justices. The Board of Governors adopted those positions, among others, at its January 9-10 meeting in Orlando. The proposal to change the state law allowing judges to override jury recommendations of life imprisonment came from the Bar’s Individual Rights and Responsibilities Committee. Committee member Michael Mello said the jury better represents community feelings about a crime and the present law “increases chances innocent people will be executed.” He quoted jurors as saying in some cases, “We thought the state’s evidence was strong enough to convict, but not strong enough to impose the ultimate penalty.” Mello, who works for the state Office of the Capital Collateral Representative, which represents death row inmates, added “For the last 12 years, the [Florida] Supreme court has overruled between two-thirds and three-quarters of the cases involving jury overrides.” The Board approved the position by a 21-7 vote challenge at subsequent elections. The residency requirements were extensively debated, with the Board initially rejecting a recommendation it lobby for the amendment, leaving it without a formal position. But when the Trial Lawyers Section asked permission to lobby for the measure, the Board first voted to oppose the amendment and then defeated a motion to allow the section to lobby for it anyway. The Board finally voted to send the topic back to the Legislation Committee and the Trial Lawyers Section for more study. “I feel on this important issue, we should take more time,” said Orlando Board member Chandler R. Muller, as he moved to send the issue back to the committee. Some Board members argued allowing the Trial Lawyers Section to support the measure even though the Board opposed it would help explain to legislator how the Bar works. But other Board members replied it would only confuse lawmakers and lessen the Bar’s effectiveness. “It’s ridiculous for us to take a position on this Board and allow a section to take a position opposite to that,” Miami Board member Alan T. Dimond said. On other matters the Board: <ul> <li>Approved a Trial Lawyers Section recommendation to support increasing juror compensation from $10 to $25 a day, with the funds coming rom higher filing fees. The Board also approved a section recommendation to draw juror pools from driver license lists as well as voter registration rolls.</li> <li>Approved a Family Law Section an estate by the entirely unless stated differently in the mortgage. The Board also allowed the section to oppose a bill easing commercial mortgage foreclosure restrictions. The section found the bill too broad for the stated purpose of making it simpler to foreclose on some condominium projects.</li> <li>Supported Tax Section requests it be allowed to support several bills, ranging from creating a division of tax policy in the state Department of Revenue to barring tax collectors from enforcing any but good faith payments until property tax disputes are resolved.</li> <li>Approved allowing the Trial Lawyers Section to lobby in Congres against federal products liability legislation.</li> <li>Failed, by a 15-12 vote, to support a proposed ABA recommendation calling for a federal intercircuit panel to resolve disputes between federal circuit courts without a Supreme Court appeal. A two-thirds Board vote is required to approve such a legislative position. The Board also took no position on creation of a chief administrative judge for the federal system. Both the intercircuit panel and administrative judge have been sought by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger and will be considered by the ABA at its midyear meeting. The Board will again consider legislative positions, including the controversial proposed modification of the Marketable Record Title Act (see related story elsewhere in the News) at its March 19-22 meeting in Tampa. Also on the agenda will be Bar responses to proposed state legislation to change the tort system, including the modification or repeal of joint and several liability. </li> </ul> Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bar favors eliminating judicial death penalty override Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Florida Bar News Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-02-01 Language A language of the resource English Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Blankenship, Gary Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment--Florida. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 jpg 300 dpi https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/92185f32846490589c2f4313346c8f96.jpg cbfd0cc10f02c0bbf4497ce99eddcb2a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document Warrenton, VA-As a part of its ongoing Death Penalty Project, NACDL co-sponsored the Annual Capital Punishment Conference held at the Arlie Conference Center in Warrenton, Virginia on July 18-20. The Conference has served for a number of years as the national strategy session for lawyers handling death penalty appeals and collateral attacks. Programmatic and logistical responsibilities were handled by the other co-sponsors, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The seminar drew 103 participants from around the United States. The program covered a multitude of issues and types of information including a status report of the various death rows around the U.S., Supreme Court developments, developments in the state and Circuit Court of Appeals, habeas litigation and the special problems pertaining to it, clemency proceedings, state organizations, and dealing with the personal (as opposed to legal) aspects of executions. This years conference was jeopardized because of funding curtailments, a fact which moved the NACDL Board of Directors to authorize a co-sponsorship funded by a grant from the ABA Bar Information Project. Other activities funded by the grant were production of the NACDL Collateral Attack Manual and production of extra issues of the March Death Penalty Issue of the CHAMPION. The death penalty issue of the CHAMPION has been widely distributed throughout the death penalty community. 1984 marked the first year in which NACDL has co-sponsored this very important conference. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Magazine Vol. No./Issue No. Volume and issue number for the newspaper (if available) July 1984 Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource NACDL Co-Sponsors Death Penalty Conference Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Description An account of the resource The article describes the Annual Capital Punishment Conference and the issues it deals with. It also tells of the Conference's lack of funding and how the NACDL (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) stepped in to sponsor the event. The Conference was held July 18th-20th, 1984. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Champion Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984-07 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 jpg 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English Annual Capital Punishment Conference National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/68e7d5dc940a7531c7bf8e06b1f6cc48.jpg 914d8c899b63c4fa8bd8251449268502 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document ORLANDO- Juries, not judges, should decide whether convicted killers are sentenced to death, the Florida Bar’s board of governors said in voting its support for a bill that would take away judges’ power to override juries. “Juries are better than judges as yardsticks of community outrage in deciding whom to execute,” said Michael Mello, an attorney who is paid by the state to defend Death Row inmates. The board voted 21 to 7 Thursday to urge Legislature to change a 1972 law that lets trial judges impose a death sentence for first-degree murder even if the jury recommends life in prison with no parole for 25 years. Since the law took effect, trial judges have ignored jury recommendations for life sentences and sentenced convicted murderers to death in 92 cases. The change would force judges to accept juries’ recommendations against the death penalty. The bill making the change has been proposed in the past two legislative sessions but was opposed by prosecutors and judges. Mello said juries seem to recommend life sentences when they have “a lingering doubt about the defendant’s guilt.” In a 1975 case, a circuit court jury convicted motorcycle gang member Joseph Spaziano of the murder and mutilation of a woman near Orlando, but only after twice telling the judge they couldn’t reach a verdict. The jury voted 9-3 for life imprisonment. But Circuit Judge Robert McGregor sentenced Spaziano to death, and reimposed the penalty after the state Supreme Court asked him to reconsider it. One of the jurors in the case said the panel favored the life sentence because of doubts about Spaziano’s guilt. The sentence was the upheld by state and U.S Supreme Court justices, but U.S. Justice John Paul Stevens said the law which lets judges override jury recommendations is defective. The board of governors consists of 39 attorneys elected by lawyers in the state’s 20 judicial circuits. The board’s vote Thursday was the first time it has taken a position on the bill. According to a bar study, most of the judges’ overrides of jury recommendations were later reversed by the state Supreme Court. In Florida, 221 murders have been sentenced to death and 13 have been executed since 1997. Only one Death Row inmate, Ernest Dobber, has been executed against a jury’s will. A jury recommended life in prison on a 10-2 vote, but Dobbert was electrocuted in 1984 for the slayings of his 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Article Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Scanlon, Heidi Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Panel: Jurors Should Decide the Fate of Killers Description An account of the resource An article in support of juries having the final say in death penalty cases. Says that judges should not have the ability to overrule a jury decision. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Tallahassee Democrat Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-01-11 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 jpg 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Jury--United States--Decision making. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Tallahassee, Florida death penalty Florida juries Michael A. Mello https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/b3e7299702f701899ea2492ef3485081.jpg c7d1d88464d3a51929568eae2e43ac4b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 25 Innocent People Executed Since 1900, ACLU Study Claims Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Michael Romaner Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Florida Times-Union Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Thursday, November 14, 1985 https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/437dba2c13cf3299fe2780eaff20cb37.jpg ab8011cab891ba2be2184cde22fe635d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document GAINESVILLE – The American Civil Liberties Union is hoping to rekindle the death-penalty debate with the release of a study yesterday claiming that at least 343 innocent people have been convicted of murder and other capital crimes since 1900. Professors Hugo Adam Bedau of Tufts University, a longtime opponent of capital punishment, and Michael L. Radelet of the University of Florida said they were convinced that of the 7,000 individuals executed in this century, 25 were erroneously convicted – including a man executed in Florida last year. Radelet said he and Bedau had to use their own judgment in determining innocence because “the states never admit putting a man to death by mistake.” The list include such famous defendants as Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, anarchists who were executed in 1927 for killing a paymaster and his guard; Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, executed in 1953 after the conviction for selling atomic secrets to the Soviet Union; and Bruno Richard Hauptmann, electrocuted in 1936 for the murder of the infant son of aviator Charles A. Lindbergh. All three cases spawned a host of contradictory studies of whether the convictions were justified. The research, presented yesterday to a national conference of criminologists in San Diego, also listed 19 people on Death Row it said came within 72 hours of being executed when their innocence was discovered. And many other victims of injustices spent years in prison in capital cases, the professors said. “Since 1900, there have been innocent people on Death Row nearly every year,” Radelet said. “Based on that, I would bet every cent I’ve got that there are innocent people on Death Row today.” About 1,600 prisoners are on Death Row in the United States according to the American Civil Liberties Union. “These horrible facts are dramatic proof of the ongoing fallibility of our death-sentencing laws,” said Henry Schwarzschild, director of the ACLU’s capital punishment project. “Judges, legislators and the American public are entitled to know about the unavoidable risk of executing the innocent.” Radelet and Bedau, author of The Death Penalty in America, have spent the last three years examining convictions in capital crimes. “I admit in many of these cases that had I sat on the jury, I would have found the guy guilty, also,” Radelet said yesterday. “Jurors, like the rest of us, are human beings. And human beings make mistakes.” The Radelet-Bedau study –ts 343 convictions, all but 25 of which were later overturned – not because of legal technicalities, Radelet said, but because innocence was established. Lawyers representing Death Row inmates already are preparing to use the study as a basis for defending their clients. Michael Mello, an attorney with a newly created office in Tallahassee that represents Florida’s indigent Death Row population, said yesterday he intended to file an appeal next week, based on the study, on behalf of Joe Spaziano. Gov. Bob Graham signed a death warrant last week for Spaziano, who was convicted of killing a Seminole County woman. He is scheduled to be executed Dec. 3. “Up until Mike’s study, we suspected intuitively that there were a lot of miscarriages of justice,” Mello said. “But what we now have is documentation of that.” But challenges of that documentation are likely. Last year, James Adams was executed for the murder of a Florida rancher. Radelet and Bedau contend that Adams was innocent. His case is the only instance cited in the study of an innocent man being executed in the last 20 years. Among evidence presented in the study was a statement from a witness who said he saw someone fleeing the rancher’s house and that person “was positively not Adams.” The study also indicates that hair found clutched in the victim’s hand did not match Adams’ hair. “Much of this exculpatory information was not discovered until the case was examined by a skilled investigator the month before Adams’ execution. Governor Graham, however, refused to grant even a short stay to try to resolve these questions,” the study said. Radelet said it was a difficult decision for him to include the Adams case in the study. He said he expected backlash from it, but “I really believe that James Adams was innocent.” Art Wiedinger, assistant general counsel to Graham, said he was surprised that the Adams case was included in the report. He said Graham took extreme care in handling the case and reviewed the materials Radelet referred to. “They did supply memorandum, I think, the week before the execution, and based on that review, the governor felt there was no basis to overturn the conviction,” Wiedinger said. He said that not having read the study he had no opinion on whether it might alter popular opinion on the death penalty. But he said U.S. and Florida law require the exercise of extreme caution in capital cases. “Given all those safeguards, I think that meets all the problems.” Ernest van den Haag, a Fordham University professor and one of the nation’s leading authors promoting the death penalty, said yesterday from his New York home that it should be no surprise to anyone that innocent people have been executed. “Trucks do run over innocent people once in a while. We continue to drive trucks because we feel the advantages outweigh the costs,” he said. “I should say the same is true in justice. The advantages of having the death sentence outweigh the costs of making an occasional mistake.” Van den Haag also said he did not expect the study to result in any policy changes – “none whatsoever, because anyone with common sense knows that mistakes will be made.” Radelet said he hoped the study eventually would bring about the abolition of the death penalty. But he said he would be pleased if people “will remember that the possibility of convicting innocent people is very real.” This report contains material from wire services. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 25 Innocent People Executed Since 1900, ACLU Study Claims Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Romaner, Michael Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Florida Times-Union Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-11- 14 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida Subject The topic of the resource Death penalty Capital punishment--Florida. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 jpg 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English ACLU Florida https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/36bf6e493a72ea1a8ae6c32ec6d4bd5a.jpg 303ad37706126173d9e50be6c0b23919 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. O'Connor, Allison Text Any textual data included in the document Almost 11 years to the day after Delray Beach police officer John Kennedy was slain while writing incident reports in his patrol car, an appeals court has upheld Willie Clayton Simpson’s life sentence for the murder. Fellow officers found Kennedy slumped over the steering wheel of his idling patrol car Aug. 10, 1974 at a gas station on Atlantic Avenue. The assailant had shot the 31-year-old officer once in the head. Kennedy apparently had no time to reach for his own weapon. The officer held only a cigarette. The state found no murder weapon or fingerprints. One suspect was arrested and later released. The next year, two jailed witnesses came forward. Melton Hunt and Tony Hostzclaw said they watched from a car as Simpson spoke to the officer, then pulled the trigger. Simpson, then 19, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1976 largely on the basis of their testimony and a statement from Simpson’s relative, Matthew Clark. Simpson stayed with Clark for awhile in Virginia after escaping from the Palm Beach County Jail, where he was being held for the unrelated robbery and murder of a Boynton Beach retiree. Clark testified Simpson told him he had killed a policeman. But the state Supreme Court overturned Simpson’s 1976 conviction and ordered a new trial. In 1983, Simpson again was tried and found guilty of the lesser offense of second- degree murder. Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Marvin Mounts gave him a life sentence to begin when he completes a life sentence for the 1975 retiree’s slaying. It was informed the second jury never heard about Clark’s testimony that formed one basis for the appeal recently reviewed and rejected by the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach. Between the two trails, a statement Clark gave to a detective came to light. In the statement Clark was asked what Simpson had told him about Kennedy’s murder. “He said, ‘Well, I’m in trouble… I killed two police. I killed a police and his son.’ That’s exactly what he told me,” Clark told the detective. The detective questioned him further about whether Simpson had specifically said, “a policeman and his son.” Clark agreed those were Simpson’s exact words. At the first trial, however, Clark said Simpson had told him he killed only an officer. Clark made no mention of the son. By the time Simpson was tried again, Clark had died. The state prosecutor was allowed to read Clark’s testimony from the first trial to the second jury. Simpson’s new lawyer wanted to read portions of Clark’s statement to point out the inconsistency, but the judge ruled he would have to read the whole statement. The defense lawyer decided against reading the statement because it also contained incriminating information about the retiree’s homicide. The 4th District Court of Appeal judges found the judge was not in error for requiring that the whole statement be read. Simpson’s appellate lawyer, Michael Mello, said he will ask the 4th District Court of Appeal for a rehearing before deciding whether to ask the Florida Supreme Court to review the case. Simpson, who is incarcerated at the state prison in Starke, had not learned of the appellate court’s decision Wednesday. Virginia Snyder, a Delray Beach private investigator who worked on the case, was dismayed by the appellate decision. She is convinced Simpson is innocent of the Kennedy murder. Snyder said she talked with both Hostzclaw and Hunt after Simpson’s first trial and both told her they lied. She maintains the young men decided to frame Simpson to get reduced sentences for the charges they were facing. Hunt told her he wouldn’t change his version of Kennedy’s slaying because he was afraid of being charged with perjury, Snyder said. “They cooked up this story and they got deals- sweet deals," Snyder said. “It’s really pathetic. It’s really tragic. It means the people who really did it are out there running around.” Hostzclaw did indeed change his story at Simpson’s second trial and was charged with perjury. Hunt stuck with his original testimony, which put the murder weapon in Simpson’s hand. Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Killer Loses Life-term Appeal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Petit, Deborah Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Sun-Sentinel Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-08-15 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida Subject The topic of the resource Trials (Murder)--Florida Description An account of the resource An article recounting the murder of Florida police officer John Kennedy, and the two trials and life-term sentencing of the accused murderer Willie Clayton Simpson. Florida Life sentence Michael Mello murder https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/eb53d69115247a111d9513d4efd79379.jpg 8f7381b9dccf13fb88439af030acc789 https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/52df657ad048a38ec43e525fa089367e.jpg 7f43ec4854cd85124fb4e0a60bdef79e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document One day early last July, Gregg Thomas of the Tampa branch of the Holland & Knight law firm, flew to Tallahassee to discuss the death appeal case of Jimmy Lee Smith, who was scheduled for execution in 10 days. Those 10 days wound up being filled with hectic activity and Thomas reckons for the last five, he had only five hours sleep. But he and other lawyers, signed up at the last minute and working for free, won a stay which led to a full review of Smith's case before the 11th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. That review, argued in February, is still pending. Thomas K. Equels, of Greenberg, Trauig, Askew, Hoffman, Lipoff, Rosen & Quentel of Miami, is used to handling complex commercial civil cases. Recently he found himself going door-to-door in a Pompano beach ghetto trying to get new evidence for David Gorham, another death row inmate. Like Thomas and other attorneys working on the Smith case, he was not being paid. But he found an eyewitness who claims that David Gorham did not commit the murder he was convicted and sentenced to death for. Equels is preparing appeals and for a clemency hearing based on the new evidence. Michael Mello, an assistant public defender in Palm Beach County, spends his working days handling criminal appeals for convicted murderers facing the death penalty. He spends his off hours advising civil attorneys who have volunteered to handle capital collateral cases for indigent death row inmates. He recently spent a weekend at his office, while his parents were visiting from Washington D.C., reading a case history and preparing a summary for a volunteer attorney. He has spent considerable time helping lawyers on two separate cases and has given advice on several more cases. All three lawyers are part of the Florida Bar's program to provide pro bono attorneys for indigent death row inmates, especially those facing imminent execution. James C. Rinaman, Jr., of Jacksonville, chairman of the Bar's Special Committee on Representation of Death Sentenced inmates in Collateral Proceedings, said the volunteer attorneys face a difficult, expensive and time consuming job for which they will receive little thanks. But he also said it is a necessary task to uphold the principle that everyone, including death row convicts are entitled to lawyers throughout every step of their appeal and that due process should be accorded everyone. Rinaman estimated the average capital collateral case requires 500 to 1,500 hours of work, and can cost from $10,000 to $18,000 out-of-pocket costs. "The more successful you are, the more time it takes." he said. Lawyers taking the cases can expect little but long hours, high expense and practically no public sympathy for their action, Rinaman said. But the job does have satisfactions. "It's a highlight of their whole professional life." he said. "It's the most important thing they've ever done, all they've done before is represent Continental Can, General Motors or Southeast Bank. This is about the highest professional contribution yo can make." Only about 100 lawyers in Florida are qualified on their own to handle the capital collateral cases, Rinaman said; consequently the Bar program includes providing advisers and research backup, through the Volunteer Lawyers' Resource Center at Florida State University and Stetson University, to help volunteers. Mello, Thomas, and Equels all gave different motives for their involvement. "The ones I've talked to feel it's wrong to kill people without lawyers. It think it's real gross to kill people period." Mello said, adding he jumped at the chance when Palm Beach County Public Defender Richard Jorandby offered him a job handling criminal death appeals. "We supposedly have this system...that;s supposed fair and it isn't . One of the main reason it doesn't work is because of the poverty of people who wind up on death row," he said. "A number of them (volunteer lawyers) who start out don't start as ideologies against the death penalty, but after a few time around. It changes them." One shock to the lawyers, largely used to handling civil cases, is poor treatment in some courts and from prosecutors seeking to hasten the executions, he said. "I feel good about what I do," Mello said. "I can't think of many other areas in life where I do something where I'm this certain I'm on the right side. I think the death penalty is wrong." Mello handles no collateral appeals directly, instead advising the other volunteers, who he noted frequently face a monumental task. "If they take it when a death warrant is signed, it's a huge commitment right up front, it's 18 hours a day for three or four weeks," he said. A memo written by Thomas last summer outlined some of the rigors he and other faced after taking a case only 10 days before the scheduled execution. The attorneys present the first week, including working through the 4th of July, working long days preparing memos and briefs for appeals. The memo noted the lawyers believed they uncovered substantial new arguments and legal points, only yo have their appeals denied at he trial court and federal district court level with only cursory hearings. Thomas noted the attorney team was greatly demoralized before the 11th Federal Circuit Court issued a temporary stay, which was immediately and unsuccessfully appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The stay led to the current hearing. Thomas said Holland & Knight agreed to get involved in the cases to guarantee inmates were represented. "We didn't take the Jimmy Lee Smith case because we're against the death penalty, we took it because a person who was going tot pay the ultimate price deserved to have due process," he said. "I guess we decided as an obligation to the Bar and an obligation to the system of justice that we give some back." He agreed with Mello the death cases vary greatly from the normal civil cases he handles, and that judges can be harsher on lawyers representing capital clients, especially in the lower level of courts. "There's a great deal of emotion involved for a judge trying a death case. The further you are removed from that, the less emotion there is," Thomas said. He added, "The tribulations (of handling a death case) are knowing that someone's life is essentially in your hands and you have to do the very best you can. The reward is when (and if) Jimmy Lee Smith dies, Gregg Thomas and his partners at Holland & Knight will know everything that could be done was done." He also said the work was important because on average 50 percent of the death appeal cases in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals are eventually reversed. Thomas was one of two Holland & Knight attorneys (the other was Julian Clarkson of Tallahassee) along with several law firm clerks who worked on the Jimmy Lee Smith case with Attorney Sarah Bicakley of Tallahassee. Like Thomas, Equels got involved because Greenburg, Taurig decided the firm should help on death appeal cases. But unlike Thomas, Equels, who is working with Alan Dimond and being advised by James McGuirk and Joseph Beeler, became involved early in David Gorham's appeals, well before his clemency hearing and with no death warrant signing in sight. "We're doing it because we have an obligation to the Bar and the community to provide this kind of service to death row inmates needing attorneys," he said. This case took Equeis from his normal civil litigation to knocking on doors in a Pompano Beach ghetto. Noting Gorham's attorney presented no evidence in his trial, Equels said, "We did a pretty thorough investigation and found an eyewitness who said he (Gorham) didn't do it. He entirely deserves representation under those circumstances. "I feel very strongly that he's innocent and I feel very strongly that the worst kind of miscarriage of justice may have taken place." That belief also provides Equels with an extra motive. "If you don't succeed, a man may die who shouldn't die," he said. Besides the appeal work, Equels is also preparing for Gorham's clemency hearing this summer. Despite the intensity of the work, the lawyers said they would be willing to tackle another death row case, but perhaps not right away. "I think I might need at least a year to rest," Equels said with a laugh. Thomas said, "I don't think I would ever have two death cases at one time, but I would do it again because it's (law practice) a system of justice, besides a money making process." They also did not think their pro bono service is highly unusual. Thomas said Holland & knight has a policy that its attorneys should donate 10 percent of their time to free work and community service. Equels and Greenberg, Traurig has a history of pro bono and community work. Rinaman said over half the attorneys in his firm, Marks, Gray, Conroy & Gibbs, do regular pro bono work. "I think the answer is all lawyers do things like this; this happens to be a highly visible one," he said. And quoting 11th Circuit Court Chief Judge John Godbold, Rinaman said that visibility comes with long hours, high expenses and misunderstanding and criticism from the public and even the client. He continued with Godbold's words, "You'll find yourself involved in as difficult and demanding a case as you've ever been in... when its over, you will stand a little taller in your profession." Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Description An account of the resource The article describes how when looking to defend a inmate on death row a lawyer could be working around 18 hours a day for three to four weeks. It also alludes to how important it is that these lawyers continue to do this work as 50% of death row decisions are revoked. In order for the American justice system to be as fair and effective lawyers need to defend the men on death row in order to give them a fair chance as many of them face poverty and cannot afford them. Although these lawyers face long hours and arduous work, most find it rewarding and are proud of saving the lives of their fellow man. Title A name given to the resource Working for Free: Lawyers finding death row work demanding Subject The topic of the resource Death row inmates Lawyers Defense (Civil procedure) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Blankenship, Gary Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Florida Bar News Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-05-15 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 jpeg 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English death penalty Florida Michael A. Mello https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/394a95359c0c99d3718f5c5a801aa9f8.jpg ef167b2c40f3ba031f766aa784b204d8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Article Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Webb, Daniel Text Any textual data included in the document Florida's capital sentencing statute provides for a three-step trial procedure in the administration of the death penalty. After a defendant is found guilty of a capital felony, a sentencing hearing is conducted before a jury which renders an advisory verdict; the judge, however, determines the actual sentence. The statute thus permits a trial court to impose a sentence of death despite the jury’s conclusion that the defendant deserves to live. That has happened 87 times in Florida. Legislation is presently pending before the House and Senate of the Florida Legislature providing that a jury recommendation of Life imprisonment in capital cases be binding on the court. The reasons for supporting this legislation are, I think, straightforward. First, the jury override degrades the jury on the very issue that has at its core an ethical and moral judgment of the community. The sentencer’s principal task in a capital case is to determine where that defendant and his crime are located on the scale of community outrage. Given that the purpose of a death sentence is to reflect community standards it follows that the representatives of the community should decide who dies. Second, the jury override wastes judicial and fiscal resources. The Florida Supreme Court reverses three-quarters of override cases. That alone is strong evidence that the system is not working. Third, the jury override increases the possibility of executing an innocent person. Jurors are instructed to determine the guilt of an accused beyond a reasonable doubt. There is, however, another type of doubt, often called “whimsical doubt,” i.e., doubt not rising to the level of reasonable doubt. If a juror entertains such a “whimsical doubt,” he or she would still be duty-bound to convict the defendant. But such a doubt is an important consideration in deciding whether to impose an irrevocable penalty. The judge, who does not take part in the jury’s deliberations, will not know if such whimsical doubt was a factor in the jury’s recommendation of a life sentence. Equally important is what this bill is not about. First, it is not about abolishing the death penalty. I recognize the right of the state to exact its ultimate penalty against the ultimate wrongdoers. But the issue here is not whether some will dies; the question is who is going to decide which of those wrongdoers are in fact the most heinous. Second, this legislation is not about commuting the death sentences of anyone presently on Death Row. The bill expressly provides that it would apply “only to offenses committed on or after Jan. 1, 1986” and that “persons who committed a capital felony prior to such date shall be sentenced in accordance with law in effect at the time” the offense was committed. The amendment would be prospective only. Third, it is sometimes argued that we should just leave the statute alone: We have something that works; let’s let it be and not risk creating any new issues for appeal. The problem with this position is that it insulates the statute from any progress or reform. The statute can be changed and in fact has been changed several times in the past. In 1979, for example, the Legislature added an aggravating circumstance and changed the language concerning mitigating circumstances. Finally, it has been argued that if a jury recommendation of life should be binding upon the trial court, then a jury recommendation of death should also be binding. This argument possesses a symmetry which is superficially attractive. The difficulty is that is would create more problems than it would solve. In essence, a “both ways binding” statute means a statute providing for jury sentencing. Thirty of the 37 American states with the the death penalty do have jury sentencing, but for Florida to adopt such a system would require several other changes to our statute: the jury’s verdict should be unanimous, and the jury should be required to give reasons for imposing the death sentence. Such changes could raise questions about the continued constitutional validity of the statute as a whole. And it would simply not be worth the effort, since judge overrides in favor of life seem to be relatively rare. During the 13-year tenure of Florida’s modern death statute, judges have imposed death, following jury verdicts of life, in 87 cases. The sort of asymmetry embodied in the present legislation is already fundamental to our system of criminal justice. At the guilt-innocence phase of a criminal trial, for example, a judge may enter a judgment of acquittal despite the jury’s rendition of a guilty verdict. But a jury’s rendition of a not guilty verdict is inviolate and not subject to judicial scrutiny, no matter how contrary to the weight of the evidence. The bill would do no more than extend this principle to the penalty phase of the trial. In sum, the system is not working. The system degrades the role of the jury, and this, in effect, that of the community in our criminal justice system. Three-quarters of the jury overrides are overturned on appeal anyway. The override places Florida in the company of only two other American states with the death penalty. The Legislature should change this situation. <ul> <li>Michael A. Mello is an assistant public defender for Palm Beach County. This article is adapted from his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee this spring.</li> </ul> Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource No One Should Die When the Jury Votes for Life Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Post Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-06-05 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Language A language of the resource English Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 dpi Description An account of the resource Newspaper article written by Michael A. Mello, discussing Florida's capital sentencing statute in 1985. Subject The topic of the resource Florida Capital punishment Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Mello_91 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida 1985 death penalty Florida Florida capital sentencing statute Florida juries Michael A. Mello Michael Mello The Post https://www.hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/9cf79f3b3161575bba93acb8e62f6669.jpg 3918ce107d3dc1d5fd5a7aaf2b257360 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Death? Let the jury decide Description An account of the resource An article by Michael Mello talking about the different Legislative regulations on the Death Penalty. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Michael Mello Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Miami Herald Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available UMW Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-04-27 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 jpeg, 300dpi Language A language of the resource English Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document IN RESPONSE to Calvin Fox’s recent explanation of three reasons why judges, not juries, should impose capital punishment: The question is important, since the Legislature is currently considering repeal of that portion of Florida’s capital-punishment stature that permits a judge to override a jury’s verdict for life imprisonment and then to impose the death penalty. <ul> <li>First, with an apocalyptic tone Mr. Fox argues that legislative repeal of the jury override will mean that “the 100 or so individuals now on Death Row may be entitled to have their death penalties set aside.” This figure is grossly exaggerated. Prof. Michael Radelet of the University of Florida, who keeps track of the statistics of Florida’s Death Row, Reports that although 87 death sentences have been imposed by trial judges, a full two-thirds of those sentences passed upon by the Florida Supreme Court have been reduced to life imprisonment. That court has affirmed death sentences in only 24 cases involving jury overrides, and several of these 24 are no longer capital cases for reasons unrelated to the override. At most repeal of the override would affect these 20 or so cases. And it need not affect even them. The Legislature could simply choose to make its new procedural rule applicable only to cases tried subsequent to the effective date of the repeal. I think such a provision would be unfair and unwise, but not unconstitutional. </li> <li>Second, Mr. Fox erroneously argues that Florida’s system of sentencing by the trial judge has been “consistently shown through intense Federal review to be the most reliable and proper system of imposing the death penalty.” This is most misleading. Almost a decade ago, the U.S. Supreme Court mad quite clear that a capital jury-sentencing stature would pass Constitutional muster provided that the jury gave its reasons for imposing death and that the state supreme court conducted a review to determine that the penalty was not applied in a disproportionate manner. Most states with the death penalty recognize that because the penalty is an expression of community outrage, an appropriate cross-section of the community whose outrage is being expressed should be given the responsibility for that decision. Of the 37 American states with capital punishment, 30 give the life-or-death decision to the jury. Mr. Fox cannot seriously mean that the statutes in these 30 states violate the Constitution, or that the 22 people put to death pursuant to these statues within the past decade were executed under unconstitutional statutes. Still, Mr. Fox argues, the death decision should be made by a “trained legal mind,” since judicial sentencing should lead to greater consistency among cases. Yet the ordinary predicates that provide consistency in non-capital sentencing, such as frequency of trying such an offense, observation of the recidivism rate for the offense, experience with the local parole and probation officers, and the like, do not pertain in the same degree, if at all, to capital cases. But more fundamentally, experience and expertise in legal rules cannot substitute for the ability of the jury to reflect community sentiment in its decision whether an individual defendant deserves to live or die. Because death-override cases are not automatically appealed to the Florida Supreme Court, there is no central data source through which such cases can be identified. Professor Radelet notes, however, that “numerous inquiries to several criminal attorneys and state officials makes us confident that there have been less than a dozen such cases since the current statutes was enacted.” Moreover, the Legislature could amend the statues to provide that a jury’s verdict for life is binding, but that the jury’s decision for death be subject for override by the court. Such a system would obviously create an asymmetry, but it is an asymmetry weighted on the side of mercy. That is offensive only if one believes that the grant of mercy to some somehow abridges the rights of others whose individual circumstances do not inspire mercy. At the guilt/innocence phase of a criminal trial, for example, a judge may enter a judgment of acquittal despite the jury’s rendition of a guilty verdict. Why not extend this principle to the penalty phase of the trial? Mr. Fox has made the best case that can be made for retention of Florida’s practice of permitting a single judge to sentence a person to die even when a jury of his peers has decided that he deserves to live. But his reasons themselves expose the bankruptcy of his position. The fact remains that the override results in a debasement of the jury’s role as the proper reflector of community sentiment. The override wastes finite judicial resources. Legislative repeal of the jury override is within the province, duty, and ethical obligation of the Florida Legislature.</li> </ul> Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Death? let the jury decide. Description An account of the resource An article by Michael A. Mello on the Legislation regulation and its importance of jury control. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Miami Harold Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-04-27 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 jpeg 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Jury--United States--Decision making. Capital punishment--Florida. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Miami, FL death penalty jurry Legislation Miami Michael A. Mello