[CUADPUpdate] Oppose death penalty reinstatement in Wisconsin!
Abraham J. Bonowitz
abe at cuadp.org
Mon May 15 10:08:34 EDT 2006
Semt to CUADPUpdate
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Greetings All!
In the past few weeks the legislature of
Wisconsin passed two different bills to put a
referendum on the death penalty onto the November
ballot in that state. Now the vote goes back to
the Wisconsin State Senate to approve changes
made in the House. This is the only chance to
legislatively stop this referendum from being on
the ballot. And know that for the sponsors of
the bill and the leadership of the party that
wants it there, this is not really about the
death penalty, but about mobilizing
"conservative" voters to get them out to vote in
November when several key state-wide office races will be decided.
SO, if YOU know anyone in Wisconsin, please
forward the info below and urge them to call
their Wisconsin State Senators TODAY with a
request that they vote NO on the death penalty
referendum. Below is the alert from the
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty,
which is leading the mobilization of folks from beyond Wisconsin's borders.
ALSO BELOW:
Letter from a victim's family member
and
No Federal Executions This Week!!!
paz!
--abe
***********
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Action Alert:
Oppose death penalty reinstatement in Wisconsin!
----------
Wisconsin has been free of the death penalty for
153 years. But now the issue is one step away
from appearing on the November ballot!
If you live in Wisconsin, we need you to call key
state senators to oppose reinstatement. If you
know someone who lives in Wisconsin and who
opposes the death penalty, please forward this
action alert to them.<?xml:namespace prefix = o
ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Time is of the essence!
----------
The Facts:
The Wisconsin Assembly has approved legislation
placing a referendum on the death penalty on the
November election ballot. Although this
referendum would be nonbinding, it would move
Wisconsin one step toward reinstating the death
penalty – at a time when other states are moving away from capital punishment.
The Wisconsin Senate could take up this
legislation the week of Monday, May 15. We need
you to contact key state senators now!
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=121491181&url_num=1&url=http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=3666>CLICK
HERE TO TAKE ACTION!!!!!!!!!!
----------
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----------
Renny Cushing sends the following:
>I thought I would pass along a copy of an Op-ed
>piece from today's Milwaukee Journal written by
>Aleta Chossek. Aleta's father Fred was murdered
>a dozen years ago, and she is opposed to the death penalty.
>
>Aleeta is a grandmother, and as she said to me,
>"It's time for grandmothers to speak out!"
>
>Solidarity,
>
>Renny
Even after her father's murder, she opposes the death penalty
By ALETA RECKLING CHOSSEK
May 13, 2006
In December 1994, a 70-year-old man was brutally beaten to death in his
place of business by a convicted felon.
At the time of his death, this father of five and grandfather of 10 served
as president of the Lutheran congregation to which he had belonged for more
than 50 years.
He also served on the Metro Chicago synod council of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America and was known in his community as a kind and
generous man.
Hundreds came to his funeral. His family was heartbroken that this gentle
man should die in such violence.
That man was my father.
Two years later, his assailant, James Edwards, was brought to trial for
first degree homicide in Lake County, Illinois. At the time of the murder,
the assailant was on parole for a previous murder.
After his trial in Illinois, he was extradited to another state for yet
another murder trial. The state's attorney in the case recommended the death
penalty. At the time, Illinois had that option.
I offer my perspective as a family member of one who was murdered. The death
penalty option brought no peace, no closure to our family.
Murder brings out primitive emotions in families. In addition to the grief,
there is the natural desire for closure, retribution, justice and,
ultimately, peace.
The whole family, even the youngest grandchildren, live with the legacy of
that terrible death.
My four siblings and I were encouraged by the politically ambitious state's
attorney to support the death penalty.
We could not come to consensus. This issue put additional stress on an
already devastating time for us.
There are many reasons I oppose the death penalty - some emotional, some
practical. But primarily, I oppose the death penalty because it perpetuates
a cycle of violence that God sought to end.
On Tuesday, the Wisconsin State Senate will vote on Senate Joint Resolution
5 as revised by the state Assembly, which calls for a November advisory
referendum on reinstatement of the death penalty in Wisconsin. Compromise is
apparently needed because the proposed wording on the resolution was
different in each body, although both chambers support the concept of DNA
evidence being required.
Our state has not had the death penalty since 1854.
I write from my perspective as a Christian. Christians profess that Jesus
took all sin upon him in his death. Yet we flawed humans seek to answer
death with death.
Does that not diminish Christ's suffering on our behalf?
I believe that God has taken care of my sin, my father's sin and the
murderer's sin. No act of man can make God's sacrifice more complete.
So please tell your state legislators that you oppose the death penalty and
oppose an advisory referendum.
A referendum is not a suitable vehicle for honoring people's experiences and
beliefs about death and justice.
I believe that in this fear-driven society, we are too polarized to respond
thoughtfully to such a spiritual and emotion laden issue.
In my family's case, the death penalty portion of the trial ended with a
sentence of life in prison with no option of parole. That offers the comfort
that no other family will suffer as a result of this man's evil spirit.
The jury was swayed by the defense, who appealed to their mercy and the
mercy that was part of my father's life.
Can we who believe show less mercy than our God who redeems us?
In respect for my father and all those who die in an unending cycle of
violence, I urge you to speak out against the death penalty.
Aleta Reckling Chossek of Shorewood is assistant to the bishop of the
Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online
<http://www.jsonline.com>www.jsonline.com
Original Story URL:
<http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=423447>http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=423447
May 14, 2006
© 2006, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved.
Renny Cushing, Executive Director
Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights
2161 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02140 USA
617 491- 9600 Office
617 930 5196 Mobile Phone
<mailto:rrcushing at earthlink.net>rrcushing at earthlink.net
www.murdervictimsfamilies.org
************
NO FEDERAL EXECUTIONS THIS WEEK!
(Congrats to our fellow Indiana Abolitionists on this excellent coverage!)
Death-penalty abolitionists note stay of death sentences
Tribune-Star of Terre Haute By Deb McKee,CNHI News Service
May 13, 2006
Instead of a grim week of back-to-back vigils
outside the federal execution chamber in Terre
Haute, an Indiana group of death-penalty
abolitionists had cause to celebrate, they said.
Members of the Indiana Information Center for the
Abolition of Capital Punishment met at St.
Mary-of-the-Woods College on Saturday to signify
the lack of executions this week at the Federal
Correctional Institute in Terre Haute.
Home to the only federal death chamber in the
U.S., the prison is where inmates who have been
sentenced to death by the federal government go to be executed.
This past week would have been a busy one for the
federal prison, as three executions by lethal
injection were scheduled for Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
None of the three deaths was carried out, after
U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle
issued a stay of execution in February for
co-defendants James H. Roane Jr., Richard Tipton and Cory Johnson.
Members of the IICACP, based out of Indianapolis,
conduct vigils for executions that occur in
Indiana, sometimes standing outside a prison all
night holding candles to spread awareness for their cause.
Before the three scheduled executions were
stayed, abolitionists planned to spend a grim week in Terre Haute.
The vigils can be draining and usually are
unpopular, according to Glenda Breeden, an IICACP
member as well as secretary of the Bloomington
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Breeden said while she doesn’t agree, she does
understand the desire to end the lives of those
who are convicted of committing heinous crimes.
“But just because [some] think they deserve to
die doesn’t give us the right to do the
killing,†she said. “We can surely hold ourselves to a higher standard.â€
Priscilla Hutton, a trained psychologist who
gives spiritual direction to prisoners at the
Rockville Women’s Prison, was invited to attend Saturday’s meeting.
“As an educator, I learned in the classroom
that severe punishment doesn’t change
anything,†Hutton said. “It only breeds more
violence, anger and a sense of powerlessness
I
don ™t think we should give up on anybody.â€
Judge Huvelle’s ruling delays the executions
indefinitely until a Florida case is decided by
the U.S. Supreme Court. That case, Hill v.
McDonough, questions the constitutionality of
lethal injections. Oral arguments were heard
April 26 in the U.S. Supreme Court, but no opinion has been released yet.
Attorneys for defendants Roane, Tipton and
Johnson claimed in their lawsuit that while one
of the drugs used “supposedly will render the
plaintiffs insensible to the pain of their
deaths, it in fact can and will merely cast a
‘chemical veil’ over this excruciating pain,
leaving plaintiffs conscious but trapped in a
paralyzed body wracked with the pain of suffocation and heart attack.
“At the same time, this ‘cocktail’ will
make it impossible for those observing the
execution including witnesses to itt
to
recognize and prevent the gratuitous pain and
suffering being inflicted upon the plaintiffs.â€
Breeden said in addition to the new concerns
being raised about lethal injection, she thinks
discrepancies in the criminal justice system
result in injustice in the way the death penalty
is applied. “I don’t think people think about
it,†she said. “They figure if someone is
sentenced to death, the criminal justice system
is doing it right. If someone is convicted, they
must have committed the crime.â€
IICACP president Chris Hitz-Bradley said the
group chose to meet in Terre Haute to mark what
they hope will be “one more step towards
abolition†if lethal injection is determined to be unconstitutional.
IICACP, an organization “open to anyone who is
opposed to the death penalty†claims on its Web
site www.iicacp.org t” that it “exists to
expose the injustice associated with the
application of the death penalty in Indiana.â€
Hitz-Bradley said the group was formed about
seven years ago and is an umbrella organization
for constituent groups and individuals throughout
Indiana, including the Terre haute Abolition
Network and the Sisters of Providence. The Terre
Haute Abolition Network has been dormant
recently, according to IICACP members, but may be revived in the future.
Deb McKee can be contacted at (812) 231-4254 or deb.mckee at tribstar.com.
****
How executions are carried out
* Three chemicals are used in lethal injection
sodium pentothhal, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride.
* Some recent studies have shown that the
chemicals may inflict pain without the knowledge of administrators.
* Lethal injection is approved for use in
executions in 37 of 38 states that administer the death penalty.
Source: Death Penalty Information Center www.deathpenaltyinfo.org.
Executions stopped
Richard Tipton, 35, Cory Johnson, 37, and James
H. Roane Jr., 40, were gang leaders in a crack-cocaine ring in Richmond, Va.
The three were tied to nine slayings of suspected
informants, competitors and underlings. One man
was stabbed 84 times for mishandling a drug
transaction, according to a U.S. Court of Appeals
brief. Three other people were critically injured
during the series of killings, which happened
over a month in early 1992, court records show.
Tipton, Johnson and Roane were sentenced under
the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, which includes
federal execution as a sentence. The three have exhausted all appeals.
On the net
For more information on the Indiana Information
Center for the Abolition of Capital Punishment,
see the group’s Web site at www.iicacp.org.
For more information about the death penalty,
visit the Death Penalty Information Center,
online at www.deathpenaltyinfo.org.
**********
SENT BY:
Abraham J. Bonowitz
www.CUADP.org
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