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Death Penalty Rumbles

By Jeralyn, Section Death Penalty
Posted on Thu Apr 24, 2003 at 09:43:31 AM EST
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The Dallas Morning News opines that the stay of Delma Banks' texecution this week by the Supreme Court warrants a moratorium on the death penalty. The paper also provides this online guide to staying texecutions.

New Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich "said Wednesday he won't lift a moratorium on executions imposed by his predecessor "anytime soon"--and perhaps not at all during his current term."

Amnesty International issued a press release today calling for a halt to executions based on its new report evidencing discrimination in its application.
The death penalty in the United States of America remains an act of racial injustice as well as an inherently cruel and degrading punishment, Amnesty International said today as it issued a new report on the continuing role of race in capital cases in the USA."
While President Bush claimed Texas never executed an innocent man, consider this top story from today's Houston Chronicle:
Attorneys for a death row inmate believe problems at the Houston Police Department crime lab may be the reason their client never received evidence that could have cleared him before trial.
Kudos to Nevada criminal defense attorney Kenneth McKenna for convincing a jury in Reno, Nevada to return a life verdict and reject the death penalty after convicting his client of killing a police officer.

Jurors who took just three hours to convict Larry Peck of first-degree murder in the standoff slaying of Reno police Officer John Bohach needed the same amount of time to spare his life, but order that he spend the rest of it in prison.... Peck showed no emotion. His attorney, however, did.

...."It felt like an electric shock from my feet to the top of my head. It was amazing to know that people decided in favor of life," Kenneth McKenna said.
He had stressed in his final statement to the jury that while his client deserved justice, he did not deserve death. "It must be reserved for the worst of the worst," he said. "You have to judge the whole person."

McKenna portrayed Peck as a man with redeeming qualities whose life was tormented by alcoholism.
Bob Herbert in today's New York Times says Pull the Plug on executions. Reviewing the Delma Banks case, he concludes, "Lying witnesses. Lousy lawyers. Corrupt prosecutors. Racism. The death penalty is broken and can't be fixed. Get rid of it. " As always, a hat tip to Reverend George, Director of Advocacy at Kolbe House in Chicago, who keeps us updated daily with important death penalty news and developments.
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