01 May 2007

Innocent people have been executed in the U.S.

I've written before about the prisoners in the U.S. who were eventually exonerated via DNA or other evidence. They now number 200. At least 123 of them had been on death row.

Those are the "lucky" ones. According to a new report by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP), other innocent people actually have been put to death.

The following is from a statement from NCADP about the report:
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Death penalty supporters maintain "the system works" and that no innocent person has been proven to be executed. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently wrote that there has not been "a single case - not one - in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred in recent years, we would not have to hunt for it; the innocent's name would be shouted from the rooftops."

Justice Scalia is wrong.

Following up on a handful of investigations spearheaded by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) with a group of committed cooperating attorneys, the Innocence Project, The Justice Project, and students at Columbia, Michigan and several other law schools, some of the nation's best investigative journalists and leading newspapers have recently exposed grave errors leading to the execution of innocent people.
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Read More:

Report Home

Executive Summary

Full Report (pdf)

The Executed:

Carlos DeLuna - Did this man die for a phantom's crime?

Larry Griffin - The eye witness who wasn't there

Robin Cantu - An execution on the basis of lies

Todd Willingham - Executed for an accidental fire

Take Action:

Does your state practice the death penalty? If so, send a message to your governor, urging that the NCADP report be read and considered.

1 comment:

  1. First let me say you are a Great Blogger. After I write this I am going to add you to my Blogroll. Thought this story may interest you.
    Dennis Fritz is a man who needs to be noticed more.
    His Book changed my views about the Death Penalty,unwarranted prosecution and wrongful convictions.
    He is the Other Innocent Man in John Grisham's "The Innocent Man", he wrote a book called "Journey Toward Justice" Published by Seven Locks Press.
    A Companion book to The Innocent Man. Dennis Fritz writes his own story about unwarranted prosecution and wrongful conviction and is a true crime.
    Endorsed on Jacket by John Grisham which he states as Compelling and Fascinating.

    "Journey Toward Justice" is a testimony to the Triumph of the human Spirit and is a Memoir. Dennis Fritz was wrongfully convicted of rape and murder after a swift trail.
    The only thing that saved him from the Death Penalty was a lone vote from a juror.
    Dennis Fritz was the other Innocent man mentioned in John Grisham's Book. which mainly is about Ronnie Williamson, Dennis Fritz's co-defendant. Both were exonerated after spending 12 years in prison.

    The real killer was one of the Prosecution's Key Witness.
    Read about why he went on a special diet of his while in prison, amazing and shocking. Dennis Fritz's Story of unwarranted prosecution and wrongful conviction needs to be
    heard.
    Read about how he wrote hundreds of letters and appellate briefs in his own defense and immersed himself in an intense study of law.
    He was a school teacher and a ordinary man whose wife was brutally murdered in 1975 by a deranged 17 year old neighbor.

    On May 8th 1987, Five years after Debbie Sue Carter's rape and murder he was home with his young daughter and put under arrest, handcuffed and on his way to jail on charges of rape and murder.

    After 10 years in prison he discovered The Innocence Project, a non-profit legal organization.

    With the aid of Barry Scheck and DNA evidence Dennis Fritz was exonerated on April 15,1999 Since then, it has been a long hard road filled with twist and turns and now on his Journey Toward Justice.

    He never blamed the Lord and solely relied on his faith in God to make it through.

    He waited for God's time and never gave up.
    Please view my blog http://barbarasblogspot.blogspot.com Here for more on Dennis Fritz and many issues in his book.

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