Doodstraf in Californie

[Mark Giebels]

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Beste lijsters,

George Ryan, ex-governor van Illinois, die 167 ter dood veroordeelden
uit death row haalde op zijn laatste dag als governor (zie discussie
eerder op deze lijst), pleit nu voor eenzelfde onderzoek in Californie
naar de eerlijkheid van de veroordelingsprocessen (zie artikel hieronder
uit de San Francisco Chronicle).

Ben benieuwd of het nog invloed gaat krijgen op de 'recall Gray Davis'
actie (http://www.recallgraydavis.com/) om de huidige Democratische
governor van Californie (zeer pro-doodstraf) via een referendum
voortijdig uit zijn ambt te ontslaan. De Republikeinse petities stromen
uiteraard binnen, maar het wordt pas echt een succes als de links
georienteerde Californiers (en die zijn uiteraard in meerderheid tegen
de doodstraf) mee gaan doen.

Groeten,
Mark Giebels
Berkeley, Californie

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Call to stay executions
Ex-governor says inequities need fixing

Mark Martin, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau Wednesday, April 23, 2003

-----

Sacramento -- Urging a closer look at who is on California's crowded
Death Row and why, former Illinois Gov. George Ryan called on California
lawmakers Tuesday to follow his lead and consider a temporary halt to
executions.

Illinois' criminal justice system was "not just, fair or accurate," Ryan
said, speaking to a state Senate committee on California's prison
system. The former governor questioned whether Californians could
definitively say their legal process was completely fair.

"I don't know what's wrong with calling a delay for a couple years,"
Ryan said. "Your system probably has some spots that could be
corrected."

Ryan reignited the country's death penalty debate in January when he
repealed the death sentences of 167 Illinois inmates. Poor and minority
defendants "don't have a prayer" of defending themselves against
prosecutors seeking death in Illinois, he said.

In a year when California faces a monumental budget crisis, the death
penalty question has not consumed state lawmakers. But this issue may
become more of a talking point as Gov. Gray Davis proposes spending $220
million to erect a new Death Row at San Quentin State Prison.

On Tuesday, Ryan recounted his transformation from longtime death
penalty advocate to the nation's leading critic. Thirteen Illinois
inmates on Death Row have been proven innocent; many had lawyers who
slept through court hearings or were otherwise denied due process,
according to Ryan.

Ryan did not run for re-election and is now embarked on a nationwide
speaking tour about his decision.

California may have many of the same problems as Illinois, said Ryan and
several other death penalty critics.

Two prosecutors testifying Tuesday vehemently denied that, however, and
the chairwoman of the committee holding the hearing, Sen. Gloria Romero,
D-Los Angeles, said there was no movement in the Legislature to consider
a death penalty moratorium. She said she is considering calling for a
study of who is on Death Row and whether there are problems that need to
be fixed.

Romero and others said California, which has the largest Death Row
population in the country, does have flaws in its judicial system that
should be addressed. Death Row is disproportionately African American
and Latino, they noted.

And Romero said district attorneys in different counties utilize the
death penalty differently. San Francisco District Attorney Terrence
Hallinan refuses to consider the death penalty, while 42 members of
California's Death Row are from neighboring Alameda County.

"Can we truly say the death penalty is equitable when a murderer
receives the death penalty in one county while receiving a lesser
penalty in another county?" Romero asked.

Robert Sanger, an attorney who represents condemned inmates, noted that
California only complied with about 6 percent of the 85 recommendations
made by a committee Ryan had appointed to examine the death penalty in
Illinois. Sanger said he is representing one California Death Row inmate
whose lawyer lost his license days after the inmate was convicted.
Another of his clients was sentenced to death after only a four-day
trial.

But death penalty advocates said Californians facing the death penalty
have far more protections than those in Illinois.

"The California system is fair, just and accurate," said Dana Gillette,
the death penalty coordinator for the attorney general's office. "The
people on Death Row are there because they committed serious, heinous
murders."

Gillette noted several differences between California and Illinois:
California has safeguards against allowing all-white juries to determine
the fate of minorities; limits testimony of informants or "jailhouse
snitches" who have something to gain from testifying; and has far more
rules regarding the admissibility of confessions.

In Illinois, the system is broken enough to raise serious questions
about the guilt or innocence of some condemned inmates. "That's simply
not the case in California," Gillette said.

And many legal experts note that California has more of a theoretical
death penalty anyway. Many condemned inmates have been on Death Row for
more than 20 years -- more have died of natural causes than by
execution.

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