[CUADPUpdate] Step 1.

[Abraham J. Bonowitz]

Hi All,

Later today we'll take step one in the final five 
steps to abolition in New Jersey when the Senate 
Budget and Appropriations Committee meets to 
consider S-171.  This bill is one of more than a 
dozen on the agenda for the hearing, and we have 
no idea what order they will go in.  The hearing 
is *scheduled* to start at 1pm, but like 
abolition, these things usually start late.  We'll see.

See the Agenda at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/Default.asp

If you have the patience, listen live at 
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/media/live_audio.asp

Below is Celeste's message to NJADP members sent 
yesterday, which spells out how the next two 
weeks should look.  And below that is Sunday's 
advance item on the process that gets under way today.

We in New Jersey appreciate all of the support we 
have received from various national and state 
organizations.  I want to especially that the 
phone banking volunteers who have been helping 
out from California, Connecticut, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

I'm sure you'll read about this from various 
sources at the end of the day.  We are hopeful that the story will be positive.

Yours in the Struggle,

--abe

Abraham J. Bonowitz
Field Manager, New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
abe at njadp.org  *  http://www.NJADP.org
mobile: 561-371-5204  *  office: 609-278-6719  *  fax: 609-278-6859
986 S. Broad St., Trenton, NJ  08611



*********

Dear Friends,

See below for an article in today's Star Ledger 
regarding tomorrow's hearing and vote on the 
death penalty abolition bill in the Senate Budget 
Committee.  As you will read, this vote is a very important step.

The article also gives important information on 
what to expect after tomorrow. The next and last 
committee hearing - this time in the Assembly - 
is scheduled for next Monday, December 10, in the 
Law and Public Safety Committee.  I will let you 
know the time, as soon as it is announced.

After these two hearings, the death penalty 
abolition bill will have just two steps to go 
before it is sent to Governor Corzine for his 
signature: a full floor vote in the Senate and a 
full floor vote in the Assembly.

Please plan your schedules now: We expect the 
Assembly floor vote to take place on December 
13.  The Senate floor vote may take place on 
December 17.  I will keep you posted as dates and times are confirmed.

In the meantime, the death penalty abolition bill 
is generating a great deal of media 
attention.  Please follow local newspaper 
coverage and weigh in with a letter to the Editor.

Throughout these past seven years working 
together to end New Jersey's death penalty, we 
have faced many critical moments.  Through ups 
and downs along the way, our voices never hushed 
and our determination never wavered.  Now, as we 
approach the most critical steps in our 
extraordinary grassroots campaign, our voices 
must stay strong and clear.  Together, we can do this.

In peace, Celeste

Celeste Fitzgerald
Director, New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
973-635-6396 Chatham Office
609-278-6719 Trenton Office
<http://www.njadp.org/>www.njadp.org




Stage is set for fight over death penalty

Sunday, December 02, 2007
BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG
Star-Ledger Staff

Efforts to kill New Jersey's never-used death 
penalty law will kick into high gear this week.

Legislation to replace capital punishment with 
life imprisonment without parole is scheduled to 
be heard tomorrow by the Senate Budget Committee 
and next Monday by the Assembly Law and Public 
Safety Committee. Leaders of both the Assembly 
and Senate would like the bill to pass by the 
time the lame duck legislative session ends on Jan. 8.

If signed by Gov. Jon Corzine -- an opponent of 
capital punishment -- New Jersey would be the 
first state to abolish its death penalty by 
legislative action since 1965, when both Iowa and 
West Virginia repealed their capital punishment statutes.

"It would be historic," said Richard Dieter, 
director of the Death Penalty Information Center 
in Washington. "It's the first time in 40 years 
some state has taken legislative action to 
abolish the death penalty. It's hard to take that final step."

New Jersey had a death penalty law until the U.S. 
Supreme Court invalidated capital punishment in 
1972. Since the nation's highest court reinstated 
the death penalty four years later, 1,099 
convicted murderers have been executed by states.

None were in New Jersey, which reinstated capital 
punishment in 1982 but hasn't carried out an 
execution since 1963, when Ralph J. Hudson, an 
Atlantic City man, was electrocuted for the 
stabbing death of his estranged wife. There are now eight men on death row.

In January, a commission that included 
prosecutors, defense lawyers, clergymen, a police 
chief and relatives of murder victims recommended 
replacing New Jersey's death penalty with life 
imprisonment with no possibility of parole. The 
Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill to do that in May.

Celeste Fitzgerald, executive director of New 
Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, 
said she is "hopeful" the bill will pass.

"Clearly, there's significant momentum on the 
side of a change to life without parole," Fitzgerald said.

But a few lawmakers and outspoken survivors of 
murder victims are making a determined effort to 
keep capital punishment on the books.

Sharon Hazard-Johnson of Mays Landing, whose 
parents were murdered by death row inmate Brian 
Wakefield, said she still hopes he will pay the ultimate price for his crime.

"I think in the end the Legislature will do the 
right thing" by keeping the death penalty, 
Hazard-Johnson said. "They know the majority is for it."

The first test comes tomorrow in the Senate 
Budget Committee, where the bill to abolish the 
death penalty was sent for an analysis of its 
impact on the state budget. That analysis was 
completed Nov. 21 by the nonpartisan Office of 
Legislative Services, which said "it cannot 
quantify with accuracy the costs or savings."

Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), the bill's 
sponsor, said it should never have been sent to the budget committee.

"I don't believe it's a matter of dollars and 
cents; it's a matter of life and death," Lesniak said.

Both the committee chairman, Senate Majority 
Leader Bernard Kenny (D-Hudson), and vice 
chairman, Sen. Sharpe James (D-Essex), plan to 
attend the hearing, according to Jennifer 
Sciortino, a spokeswoman for Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex).

Kenny has been absent since suffering numerous 
broken bones when hit by a car last July. James, 
who is under federal indictment for corruption, 
missed a meeting of a different committee last week.

Asked to assess his bill's prospects, Lesniak 
said: "I'm very confident we will get it out of 
the budget committee, and I'm somewhat optimistic 
we will get it passed. It's not going to be a slam dunk."

Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance 
(R-Hunterdon), who also sits on the budget 
committee, said he will not support the bill.

"I believe there are certain crimes so heinous 
that a jury of the defendant's peers should be 
able to impose the death penalty," Lance said. As 
examples, he cited terrorist killings and the 
murder of a police or corrections officer, adding, "there may be others."

But Lance said there is no Republican Party 
position in favor of the death penalty.

"Every member of the Senate will vote his or her conscience," Lance said.

Robert Schwaneberg may be reached at 
rschwaneberg at starledger.com or (609) 989-0324.


© 2007  The Star Ledger
© 2007 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.

SENT BY:

Abraham J. Bonowitz
Field Manager, New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
abe at njadp.org  *  http://www.NJADP.org
mobile: 561-371-5204  *  office: 609-278-6719  *  fax: 609-278-6859
986 S. Broad St., Trenton, NJ  08611