June 30, 2008, A United Nations report described Alabama's death penalty system as being so flawed the state may have executed innocent people.The report also found that instead of facing their flawed system, they would rather take the risk of executing innocent people. Read U.N Report
A 2007 American Bar Association Report and study also showed the same serious flaws in Alabama's death penalty system. Read Report
A Moratorium should be put in place based on these two reports !!
Judicial Murder Despite Doubts, Alabama Man Faces Execution July 23, 2008 DER/SPIEGEL, Marc Pitzke of New York writes Most death row inmates claim their innocence, but Arthur's case is different, there is plenty of potentially exculpatory DNA evidence. Yet the governor of Alabama, the Republican, Bob Riley, is refusing to permit tests on it and is insisting that the execution be carried out on the stated date---even though the wrong man may die. Read Article
December 18, 2007 UN General Assembly Adopts Death Penalty Ban Read Article
Amnesty Internal UN call for Halt to Death Penalty Executions Read article
As it is now, there is no statue of limitations on a conviction of murder, but there is a time limit on proving your innocence. In Alabama, you are not even guaranteed the right to an attorney. Please read this current examination of Alabama Judicial System on the Death Penalty. It was done by the Alabama Bar Association. Keep in mind this is happening all over the United States, many innocent people are being executed for crimes they are innocent of. Alabama Bar Association Review Of Capital Punishment Current System
The Alabama President of District Attorneys has stated Attorney General Troy King is inexperienced to be handling Death Penalty Cases. Read Recent Article 42 Counties in Alabama have all agreed, Troy King is to inexperienced to handle Death Penalty Cases. Read Entire Article Troy King is also making headlines that he misjudges his role. Read Entire Article
* July 18-08 Hans Sherrer, President , The Justice Institute & Publisher , Justice Denied Magazine wrote a OP-ED approved letter to The Birmingham News ( Ran Sunday July 27, 2008) and to Governor Riley , Re: Issuance of a stay and ordering DNA testing for Thomas Arthur. Read entire letter
* July 24, 2008 The Birmingham News reports Governor Riley should order DNA testing. Without the benefit of DNA testing, the state of Alabama assumes the intolerable risk of executing an innocent man. Read Article
* July 23, 2008 DER/SPIEGEL online, reported by Marc Pitzke of New York, writes, Alabama Governor is refusing to allow DNA testing that could prove Arthur's innocence. The governor of Alabama , the Republican Bob Riley, is refusing to permit testing of theplentiful amount of exculpatory DNA evidence-- even though the wrong man may die. All in vain The governors spokeswoman Tara Hutchinson states" DNA evidence will not exonerate Mr. Arthur" Read Article
The leading experts in the field of DNA testing, The Innocence Project strongly disagree.
*June, 2008 the "MAN WHO WOULD NOT DIE" Written by Lee Hurley Editor In Chief of Thicket Magazine. Read Article
*July 02, 2008 Amanada Peterson, of the Al.com Press- Register "Envoy criticizes death penalty policy" Alabama leaders are "strikingly indifferent" to the concerns that prisoners awaiting execution may be innocent, a U.N. envoy said in a new report. Read Article
*July 11, 2008 David Person of the Huntsville Times writes "Why No DNA Testing In Alabama"Before the State of Alabama executes someone, it should leave no roomfor doubt about a persons innocence.Read Article
*July 08, 208 Alabama News Group try to stop Thomas Arthur Execution Read Article
*July 11, 2008 Innocence Project "Still No DNA Testing for Thomas Arthur" Read Article
December 21, 2007 Birmingham News , Stan Diel writes Ex-Death Row Inmates back Arthur's quest for DNA testing. "Prosecutors, judges, or governors rejected our initial pleas for DNA testing,"the men said in a letter. "Each of us sat on Death Row, wonderingwhether the truth would come out before we were executed. And each of us was spared when the irrefutable science of DNA proved we were innocent."Read Entire Article
Recent Alabama News Papers (Nov. 02, 2007) reports show Governor Riley and his Attorney General Troy King are showing disrespect for the United States Supreme Court and wasting tax payers money by re setting execution dates or Thomas Arthur and James Callahan for the month of December. The reports also show how the people of the State of Alabama are beginning to question theirleadership, and the governor and Alabama Attorney General Troy King are losingpopularity in the State, which means fewer votes next time elections come around. The whole world is watching the State of Alabama in disbelief and disgust. Huntsville News ArticleTuscaloosa News ArticleBirmingham News Article
An Article In USA Today 10-11-2007 Reporter Richard Willing Writes "DNA Innocence Testing For Convicts On Back Burner" Senator Patrick Leahy, D-VT says"DNA is such a powerful tool in providing guilt or innocence that it's inexcusable not to use it" Read Article
A recent Article In Time Thursday October 04, 2007 written by Adam Zagorin Titled"Selective Justice In Alabama"? This article really digs deep into the corruption in the Justice System in Alabama. Finally the World is getting a good look at thecorruption that has been going on there for years. You Must Read This Article
The Alabama President of District Attorneys has stated Attorney General Troy King is inexperienced to be handling Death Penalty Cases. Read Recent Article 42 Counties in Alabama have all agreed, Troy King is to inexperienced to handle Death Penalty Cases. Read Entire Article Troy King is also making headlines that he misjudges his role. Read Entire Article
Supreme Court rules today on lethal injection and halted execution. Supreme Court wants investigation into Lethal Injection. Governor Riley has to be effected by this ruling. Read Entire Article
A recent Birmingham News Editorial (11-29-07) states it is inconceiveivable that the state of Alabama won't order DNA testing before executiong a Death Row inmate who claims to be innocent. The truth is, there is at least some evidence to suggest guilt and other evidence that makes you wonder. Unfortunately, the jury that decided Arthur's fate didn't have the luxury of DNA testing that might have helped them sort through the complicated facts of the case.... Read Entire Article
Alabama is one of eight states in the country that lacks a state law allowing inmates to seek post-conviction DNA testing to prove innocence. Last week, the state executed Darrell Grayson despite his repeated attempts to seek DNA testing that could have proved his innocence or confirmed his guilt. An recent editorial in the Birmingham News called for Alabama to join the 42 states that offer post-conviction DNA testing. Gov. Bob Riley could have, and should have, delayed Grayson's execution long enough to allow for a test. He did not. If there's good to come from this, it's that the case is a reminder of how Alabama's law has not kept up with the times when it comes to scientific advances in criminal investigations. Read the full editorial here. (Birmingham News, 07/29/2007)
A Recent Article In The Tuscaloosa News 11-28-2007 States "With Execution, Let's Makes Certain" You would think our government would take every step possible in advance of a legal execution to ensure that it was taking the life of a person innocent of the crime. Unfortunately, the United States Supreme Court didn't see it that way. Instead, it refused Monday (11/26/07) to reconsider DNA testing for Thomas Douglas Arthur, scheduled to die Dec. 06, 2007 (Alabama) for a 1982 murder in Muscle Shoals. Read Entire Article
A recent Article in the Times Daily on DNA testing quoted as asking"what does Alabama have to lose from conducting DNA testing of the evidence from Arthur's trial? Read Entire Article
A recent 10-11-2007 Story by MSNBC Former Death Row Inmate Out Of Jail. 15 years on death row and released due to DNA evidence. Read Entire Article
A Recent Article in Time (CNN) October 04, 2007, written by Adam Zagorin, titled "Selective Justice In Alabama?" really diggs deep into the corruption of Alabama Politics and their Justice System that has been going on for years. You Must Read This Article
A recent article in the New York Times and with the innocence projects report another person exonerated by DNA evidence after spending 14 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. This is the 209th person exonerated by DNA testing. Read Entire Article
Amnesty International Insists Alabama Governor Riley test ALL DNA Evidence Before Alabama Executes Thomas Arthur. "Given the many unanswered questions in this case, it would be absurd for Alabama not to test all the DNA," said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA (UAIUSA) "When Alabama refuses to examine available evidence, it might as well say"we don't care if we actually get it right." Read Entire Amnesty International Article
A recent article in the Birmingham News title "A Lethal Combination" says Alabama Attorney General Troy King plans to pay a Massachusetts doctor $400.00 an hour to study the state's lethal injection drugs and help fend off a federal court challenge to the way it executes prisoners. Hiring an expert for the case is not unreasonable. What isn't reasonable is Alabama is continuing to execute prisoners while this issue plays out in courts. The state has executed three prisoners despite the challenge to it's lethal injection procedures. Thomas Arthur, is scheduled to die December 06, 2007. He is also being denied DNA testing of the crime scene evidence that could prove he was never at the crime scene and someone else murdered the victim. Read Entire Article
August 7, 2007 ,The Atlantic.com wrote an article titled "Innocents In Prison" It speaks of the thousands of wrongly convicted people rotting in prisons and jails around the country (USA) Since 1989 205 DNA exonerations have been recorded by the Innocence Project. The exonerated prisioners-including 15 who had been sentenced to death-have been found innocent by courts, prosecutors, or governors based on post-conviction DNA testing. (However, in Alabama, Death Row Inmates do not have the right to an attorney during post -conviction petitions, therefore unable to get their DNA testing done, even at their own expense) But America has been too slow to appreciate that the DNA exonerations, and other evidence, suggest that many thousands of other wrongly convicted people are rotting in jails around our country USA. And our federal, state, and local governments and courts have done far to little to adopt proposed criminal justice reforms that could reduce the number of innocent people convicted while nailing more of the real criminals. (that would save tax payers millions) Read Entire Article
In Alabama, Execution Without Representation
In a recent New York Times Article March 26, 2007 by Adam Liptak called "In Alabama, Execution Without Representation", Liptak points out Death Row Inmates are not guaranteed representation during post-conviction petitions. Read Entire Article
In a recent Birmingham News article written by William R Montoss Jr, whom is an attorney at the Southern Center For Human Rights Center in Atlanta. He was also the attorney for Darrell Grayson, Aaron Jones & Luther Williams, all whom have been executed by the State of Alabama. They were executed with their requests for DNA denied, with the State of Alabama knowing it was going to "change it's lethal injection protocol"The Governor even told Mr. Montross "he , the Governor does not have the authority to stay the execution" Montross states now is the time to subject the whole death penalty process to a shining light. Why are we the only State in the country that doesn't provide lawyers to Death Row inmates after direct appeals? Read Entire Story
In a recent article in the Birmingham News, Bryan Stevenson, Director of Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama comments about Alabama Attorney General Troy Kings statements that "death row inmates do not receive lawyers for post conviction appeals is pure fiction" and that the state pays a "defendant's lawyer again on a direct appeal at a reasonable rate of $60.00 per hour" He neglected to mention that under Alabama law (section 15-12-22), a lawyer handling a direct appeal in a death penalty can receive a maximum of $2,000.00, no matter what the hourly rate. The men currently scheduled for execution in the next few weeks, Luther Williams and Thomas Arthur had lawyers at the old out-of-court work capped at $1,000.00 . At the time of this article, Darryl Grayson had not been executed. We all know he has been executed recently. Darryl Grayson was one of the inmates with a lawyer capped at $1,000.00 and was also denied DNA testing. When Alabama attorney General Troy King challenged "The News" to name just one Death Row Inmate who is in post-conviction proceedings without an attorney. Thomas Arthur is one of the Death Row Inmates that never received post conviction reviews of his claims because he couldn't find a volunteer lawyer to file his case before the statue of limitations ran out. Read Entire Article
In a recent article written by Phillip Rawls, of the Associated Press, states Alabama has joined a growing list of death penalty states facing court challenges to the lethal injection policies. Also in the article Bryan Stevenson, directior of The Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama states"it will have implications for this litigation all over the country" Read Article
In a recent Tampa Tribune, Florida Sunday Article (10-13-07)Bill Kaczor, of the Associated Press writes The U.S. Supreme Court, not it's counterpart should decide whether to stay an execution scheduled next month while federal justices consider a lethal injection challenge, alawyer for the State argued on Thursday. Justice Harry Lee Anstead sharply questioned Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Nunnelley on his opposition to delaying the execution. "I'm having difficulty seeing what the urgency is of going forward with an execution when we're about to get the law from the horse's mouth", Anstead said. Read Entire Article
Anniston Star editorial editor, John Fleming, recently wrote an article titled "Bad Justice on Display", points out Alabama is the only state that does not make lawyers available to indigent death-row inmates. The large issue here is the pathetic state of the criminal system in Alabama. In the real world, Alabama's criminal justice system is a joke. Read Entire Article
OTHER VIEWS Imagine: You're Innocent and Waiting For Execution
A recent article in the Tampa Tribune, written by Leonard Pitts Jr, whom is a columnist for the Miami Herald asks us to imagine we are innocent and waiting for Execution. You don't know what is like and neither do I. But we can imagine. He states it must feel like being buried alive. Lungs starving, lying in blackness, pounding on the coffin lid with dirt showering down, no one hearing your cries. Or maybe it's like locked in syndrome, a condition where you lose muscle control-can't move a finger, turn your head, speak. Your body entombs you. You scream within, but no one hears. That's how it must feel to be an innocent person on death row as execution days close. Read Entire Article
