[FADPUpdate] Florida DP Editorials-again

[melliott3 at aol.com]

Friends,

This is a resend of the previous message as a test.  Please excuse the 
re-post.  Hopefully, this message will be more readable.

Two great articles from the Daytona Beach News Journal.  The second 
editorial refers to the U.S. Supreme Court decison in the Scott Panetti 
case.  Legal consultants say that this was not a broad decision and 
affects only the Panetti appeal.

This and other articles are available at www.FADP.org, "DP in the 
News".

Shine the light,

Mark

****************************************************

July 02, 2007

Lethal questions

State's death-penalty rules still flawed


Gov. Charlie Crist says he's ready to crank up executions again in 
Florida after the state adopted 37 recommended changes in procedure 
that supposedly make lethal injection less brutal and less prone to 
gruesome accidents.

We'd urge Crist to reconsider. Much as the governor backed away from 
his old persona as "Chain Gang Charlie," the state should back away 
 from its bloodthirsty reputation and move toward a system that 
emphasizes justice over vengeance.

The problems with the death penalty aren't going away. Even if Florida 
found a painless and foolproof execution method (the current system is 
likely to be neither, even after the changes) fundamental injustices 
remain. The death penalty is still applied so randomly that it's 
comparable to lightning striking. Racial and socioeconomic inequities 
still riddle the system. And the question of innocence still throbs as 
the sorest point of all.

The man whose execution prompted a review of lethal-injection 
procedures went to his death proclaiming his innocence. There were no 
eyewitnesses to the killing of a Miami strip-club manager for which 
Angel Nieves Diaz was convicted, and a jailhouse "snitch" later 
testified that he lied when he said Diaz confessed to the crime.

But it was the manner in which Diaz died that raised so many questions. 
Florida's lethal-injection procedure was adopted because it was 
advertised as being sterile and quick, with no unsightly twitching or 
flames. But Diaz's execution took more than 30 minutes. Needles meant 
to inject a triple cocktail of lethal chemicals into his bloodstream 
were inserted through, not into, his veins, leaving the caustic fluid 
to pool in the muscles of each arm.

Witnesses said they saw Diaz moving his head, grimacing and mouthing 
words as the execution dragged on. But state officials say Diaz felt no 
pain. That claim is barely credible.

The changes in execution procedure since adopted by the state don't 
offer much comfort. Among other things, prison officials will take care 
not to move the gurney onto which a prisoner is strapped during an 
execution, and watch the inmate's arms for signs that a needle has been 
misinserted. But the state won't change the chemicals used in 
exections, despite medical testimony that the three-drug combination -- 
an anesthetic, a paralytic, and a drug that stops the heart -- could be 
excruciatingly painful.

Florida leaders shouldn't focus on making executions less dramatic. 
They should be asking whether all the controversy and debate is worth 
it, whether the effort is justified to preserve a system that any 
rational evaluation shows to be unjust. The answer, clearly, is no.

**************************************

It is not about what they did...its about what we do.

Mark Elliott
Director, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, FADP.org
2840 W. Bay Dr., #118
Belleair Bluffs, FL  33770

(727) 215-9646

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that 
matter."
"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal."
"The time is always right to do what is right."
Martin Luther King Jr.



July 02, 2007

Insane men, optional justice


A death sentence overturned Thursday by the U.S. Supreme Court proves 
how arbitrary the American capital-punishment machine can be.

Scott Louis Panetti, convicted in Texas of killing his wife's parents, 
claimed to be inhabited by an alter ego named Sarge Ironhorse and said 
he was being persecuted for his religious beliefs. In other words, he's 
crazy as a bedbug -- and the Supreme Court held that it's illegal to 
execute the insane.

That makes perfect sense. Panetti's delusions made him incapable of 
assisting in his own defense (raising serious questions about the trial 
court judge's decision to allow Panetti to represent himself.)

But if it's illegal to execute the insane now, why was it legal in 2000 
to kill Thomas Provenzano, the man who walked into an Orlando 
courthouse in 1984 and opened fire? Provenzano had a lengthy history of 
mental illness and went to his death believing himself to be Jesus 
Christ.

Two heinous and inexplicable crimes. Two perpetrators, both obviously 
insane. One lives, the other dies. And once again, Americans see proof 
of just how arbitrarily and unfairly the death penalty is administered 
in this country.



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