[WCADP-list] Volunteers Needed; Death Row Appeal Denied; Death Row Sentences at a 30-year Low

Mon Nov 29 14:58:13 PST 2004

In this email:

1.  Volunteers needed in Seattle on Tuesday, December 7

2.  Stenson's appeal denied by Washington Supreme Court

3.  Number of people sentenced to death reach 30-year low

  _____  

1. Volunteers Needed This Thursday

We are looking for volunteers who are available on Thursday, December 7th
from 5:0 to 8:30 p.m. to help us put together a mailing to our membership.
We will have food (vegetarian option viable) for those who will be coming
straight from work.  If you can help, please send an email to
volunteer at abolishdeathpenalty.org or give us a call at (206) 622-8952 for
location information.

  _____  

2. Darold Stenson's appeal denied by Washington Supreme Court

In a 7-2 decision issued Wednesday morning, the Washington Supreme Court
rejected Stenson's latest appeal on the grounds that it didn't present new
evidence and it raised issues that the court thought should have been
brought up in earlier appeals.  A petition challenging the constitutionality
of Stenson's conviction and death sentence is still pending before U.S.
District Court. 

Majority:  http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/?fa=opinions.opindisp
<http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/?fa=opinions.opindisp&docid=745935MAJ>
&docid=745935MAJ
Dissent:  http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/?fa=opinions.opindisp
<http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/?fa=opinions.opindisp&docid=745935DI1>
&docid=745935DI1
The Peninsula Daily News:
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/sited/story/html/179286

  _____  

3. From the Associated Press (15 November 2004)

WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of people sentenced to death reached a 30-year
low in 2003, when the death row population fell for the third year in a row,
the government reported Sunday.

Some 144 inmates in 25 states were given the death penalty last year, 24
fewer than in 2002 and less than half the average of 297 between 1994 and
2000, according to the Justice Department.

Death penalty opponents say the report shows how wary the public is of
executions, heightened by concerns about whether the punishment is
administered fairly and publicity about those wrongly convicted. Illinois
emptied its death row in 2003 after several inmates were found to be
innocent.

"What we're seeing is hesitation on the death penalty, skepticism,
reluctance," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty
Information Center. "I do think there is some concern about the death
penalty and it's reflected in death sentences from juries."

Opponents also point to other possible reasons, including continuing fallout
from Supreme Court decisions requiring that juries be told that life in
prison without parole is an alternative to death.

Dieter said 47 states now offer a life-without-parole sentence as an option
for at least some convictions, compared with 30 in 1993.

Supporters doubt the decline signifies a major shift in public opinion about
the death penalty, which is in effect in 38 states and the federal justice
system.

"I don't think the numbers mean a lot quite frankly," said Dianne Clements,
president of the victims advocacy group Justice For All. "I don't think it
means a change in death penalty attitudes. I think it means the numbers
change."

At the end of last year, 3,374 prisoners were awaiting execution, 188 fewer
than in 2002, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Illinois
accounted for 84 percent of the decline, the result of then-Gov. George
Ryan's decision to commute the death sentences of 167 inmates to life in
prison and to pardon four others.

Nationally, 267 people were removed from death row last year. That was the
largest drop since 1976, when the Supreme Court reinstated the death
penalty, according to the report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Some 65 people, all men, were executed last year. Texas again was the
leader, with 24, followed by Oklahoma with 14 and North Carolina with 7. No
other state had more than three.

All but one of those men were killed by lethal injection. The other was
electrocuted.

Since 1977, 885 inmates were executed through 2003 by 32 states and the
Federal Bureau of Prisons. Two-thirds of them were in five states: Texas,
Virginia, Oklahoma, Missouri and Florida.

The report also found:

.        Of death row inmates, 56 percent were white, while 42 percent were
black. Hispanics, who can be of any race, accounted for 12 percent of
inmates whose ethnicity was known.

.         States with the largest number of death row inmates were
California with 629, Texas with 453 and Florida with 364.

.         Ten people died while awaiting execution in 2003; six from natural
causes and four from suicide.

  _____  

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The Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
P. O. Box 3045
Seattle, WA 98114
(206) 622-8952
www.abolishdeathpenalty.org <http://www.abolishdeathpenalty.org/> 

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