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SUB-HEADING: "State continues to execute priests and the intellectually disabled."
GIST: "For the first time in 23 years of polling, Gallup reports that a majority of Americans now believe the death penalty is unfair. The finding is part of the Death Penalty Information Center's yearly report on capital punishment, released last week.
The Gallup Crime Survey has asked for opinions on capital punishment since 2000. Between 2000 and 2015, most said they thought it was applied fairly in the U.S. In 2016 the number began dropping.
This year's historic low of 47% mirrors doubts that have led to fewer people being sentenced to death and fewer states conducting executions.
For the ninth year in a row, fewer than 30 people were put to death nationwide, with only five states conducting executions.
As of December 1, fewer than 50 people have received death sentences in just seven states. Both numbers are the lowest in 20 years.
But in Texas, executions actually increased.
This year the state killed eight people, the highest number since 2019. Five of the eight (62.5%) were people of color.
Florida executed the second-highest number of prisoners nationwide. Its six executions were the most since 2014, and came with the backing of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for president.
The Texas executions this fall have been ironic.
Three of them were scheduled for prisoners participating in a first-of-its-kind program on death row – the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Faith-Based Program.
The death penalty is reserved, by Texas statute, for people whom juries decide cannot change and will forever be dangerous. But according to TDCJ, the program "is based on the belief that individuals, no matter their past, can change if given the right tools and opportunity to do so."
As part of the program, the agency provides courses on processing trauma, redefining the concept of manhood, and accepting responsibility for one's actions, among other topics.
Over two dozen of the row's approximately 180 inmates have participated since early 2021.
Prison officials and inmates alike believe the program is improving death row, but that didn't keep the state from seeking to execute three program participants, including its first inmate coordinator, Will Speer. He was leading prayer over prison radio daily.
For the ninth year in a row, fewer than 30 people were put to death nationwide, with only five states conducting executions. But in Texas, executions actually increased. This year the state killed eight people.
Speer was temporarily spared five hours before he was scheduled to die, but the two other Faith-Based participants – Brent Brewer and David Renteria – were killed on Nov. 9 and 16, respectively.
Brewer had argued that the prediction that he would be dangerous for the rest of his life was based on junk science – the testimony of notorious Austin psychiatrist Richard Coons, who never met Brewer.
Renteria had claimed he was threatened by gang members into abducting 5-year-old Alexandra Flores and that he did not kill her.
His attorneys were denied access to evidence they said would have shown he was not responsible for the child's death.
Other questionable Texas executions this year included those of Robert Fratta, John Balentine, and Arthur Brown Jr.
Fratta argued that prosecutors presented misleading evidence at his trial, including a false claim that he had antisocial personality disorder.
The courts rejected Balentine's claim that his Amarillo trial – which had an all-white jury and a foreman who used racial epithets and said a death sentence was "biblically justified" – was tainted by racism. Brown had argued that he was ineligible for the death penalty because of intellectual disability.
As the public loses faith in the death penalty, the nation's Supreme Court is embracing it, with the court rejecting petitions from death row inmates at an accelerating pace.
One of the rejected cases is that of Robert Roberson (of Palestine, Texas), whose Supreme Court petition was supported by five retired judges and a variety of scientists who argue that the theory of shaken baby syndrome that led to his conviction is now thoroughly discredited. The Supreme Court refused Roberson's appeal without comment."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.
Lawyer Radha Natarajan;
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-123488014
