[WCADP-list] Virginia Execution Scheduled 9 September -- Your Action Requested

[wcadp-list at lists.drizzle.com]

    We have received notice of another execution, this time in Virginia.
Just as before if you can send an email, fax, or make a phone call you can
let Gov. Warner know that the eyes of a nation are upon him as he decides
whether or not to send another man to his death.  Since we began posting
these national calls-to-action our mailing list has grown steadily.

 

    It is true that the WCADP is focused on abolishing the death penalty in
Washington.  However, any time we allow a man or woman to die without
expressing our outrage we help to perpetuate the barbarism of capital
punishment.  This is true regardless of where that death takes place.  Our
outrage makes it more difficult for the authorities in Washington to engage
in this immoral deed.  

 

    So please, take a moment and let your conscious guide you as you pick up
the phone or type an email.  Your actions today are truly a matter of life
an death.

 

    Thank you.

 

 

RE:    Virginia           Mr. James Reid         Scheduled:  9/9/2004

 

The Hon. Mark Warner, Governor of Virginia

 <http://www.governor.virginia.gov/Contact/email_form.html>
www.governor.virginia.gov/Contact/email_form.html

Phone:     804-786-2211

Fax:         804-371-6351

 

Other Virginia contacts:

 

Parole Board

Phone: 804-674-3081

 

Richmond Times-Dispatch

fgreen at timesdispatch.com
Phone:  804-649-6000

Fax:  804-819-1216

 

The Virginia-Pilot

letters at pilotonline.com
Phone:  757-446-2314

Fax:  757-446-2051               

                     

The following is a sample letter from our colleague and national
abolitionist Jerry Ward.  As always, Jerry say, "feel free to cut and
paste."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

I am writing to you, Governor Warner, to ask you to stop your state's
execution of James Reid scheduled for Thursday, September 02, 2004.

 

Governor Warner, no better reasons exist today to execute Mr. Reid that did
when a court of appeals stayed his execution in August of last year.  Mr.
Reid has not yet received his constitutionally guaranteed fair trial.  Mr.
Reid's counsel was clearly incompetent and misrepresented his experience and
skills and advised his client, incorrectly and after no investigation, that
he had no defense.  His attorney also counseled Mr. Reid that even if he
entered a guilty plea he could later change his mind. This attorney was
later disbarred by your own state bar for deception and incompetence.
Moreover, Mr. Reid also suffered from brain damage, alcoholism and dementia
at the time of the crime.

 

Governor Warner, you must stay this execution for at least two reasons:
because Mr. Reid is guaranteed a fair trial by the federal constitution and
because it is clear that he needs treatment instead of execution! 

 

Virtually every faith tradition in the world condemns capital punishment as
a brutal and terrible act.  Myriads of scholars, former prosecutors, and
judges, can find no evidence that the death penalty deters capital crimes.
In fact, the warden of the famous Sing Sing prison believes that the death
penalty exacerbates the violence in his facility by setting an example of
cold-blooded killing.  Recent studies show that the largest increase in
capital crimes is in the state of Texas, the state which executes the most
people.

 

Please, Governor Warner, be a man of justice and compassion and stop this
killing of James Reid. 

 

Thank you.

 

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- -

 

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