AmFOR on the
DEATH
PENALTY
(with Articles, Links, and Resources
on Wrongly Convicted/Executed)
U.S.Supreme Court Ends Child Executions (New York, 3-1-05)
With [the 3-1-05] Supreme Court ruling abolishing the execution of child offenders, the U.S joins the international consensus rejecting this cruel and inhuman punishment... Because of the Supreme Courts decision, the U.S. can now hold its head up as a just society on this issue. Prior to the decision, [in Roper v. Simons] the U.S. was one of only 6 countries in the world in which the juvenile death penalty was lawful. The U.S. had been responsible for 4 out of the 6 juvenile executions worldwide since 2002.
[AmFOR Note: States can still opt to prosecute children "as adults" in order to obtain harsher sentences, resulting in children being housed in adult prisons with adult predators where they are not safe.]
INTRODUCTION
On December 2, 2005, the United States carried out its 1,000th execution since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. A Study by the University of Michigan School of Law of 328 criminal cases in a 15-year period beginning 1976 revealed 199 convicted of murder were exonerated -- 73 of them in capital (death penalty) cases -- and 120 rape exonerations. More than half of the 328 exonerated had been in prison over 10 years. This detailed study by Gross, Jacoby, Matheson, Montgomery and Patil, as well as web pages about Innocent Imprisoned, Wrongly Convicted Cops, Death Penalty, Eyewitness ID, Junk Science, Arson, False Child Abuse Claims, How the System Works, Police/Prosecutor Misconduct, Life After Exoneration, Links to Related Sites and a Discussion Board can be found at the Truth in Justice website at www.truthinjustice.org.
Since 1989, Americans For Open Records (www.AmFOR.net) has helped over 14,000 adult adopted persons to discover their pre-adoption pasts and connect with previously unknown family members. In doign so, AmFOR heard from adoptees who are incarcerated. Their crimes range from petty thefts for drugs to murder of their adopters or others, and their stories are at www.AdoptedPrisoners.com . Some are on Death Row; one has since been executed. A few are totally innocent of the crimes for which they were wrongly convicted and AmFOR has been working to obtain their freedom. AmFOR's book, Chosen Children, now available as a free download, takes an in-depth look at their issues in the context of how they were affected by their pre- and post-adoption pasts and chances for rehabilitation. In another book, The Emotional Life of an Adopted Child, author Sharon Kaplan Roszia, therapist and Director of Education at The Kinship Center, explains:
"The experience of being adopted can create a complicated mix of emotions for a child. Most children feel safe and secure when they are part of a loving family. But for many adopted kids, there are deeper questions about how real that security is: Will I always be a part of this family? Do I really belong here? Questions can bring up painful feelings -- loss, grief, anger, even depression. And, of course, children who are experiencing such feelings don't know how to name them, much less talk about them, much less talk about them with their [adopters]." -Sharon Kaplan Roszia
See also Adopted Child Syndrome at www.AmFOR.net/acs and more recommended Books and Movies at the bottom of this page.
ADOPTEES ON DEATH ROW
ADOPTEE STEVE OKEN
Executed 6-17-04, Maryland
ADOPTEE STEVE STEIN
on Florida's Death Row
Most of today's prison population who are adoptees, including those convicted of murder, were adopted at birth (rather than at an older age) or were separated from parents in infancy. Comparison of FBI stats with adoption stats suggest an over-representation of adoptees in our nation's prisons (detailed on Adopted Killers page). During the past 8 years, only the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Yemen have executed children (those who were under 18 at the time of the crime); their adoptive status and horrific abuse at the hands of adopters and stepparents rarely revealed at their trials (see Adoptees Who Kill for list). Texas has been a leader in the practice of killing children.
JOHNNY FRANK GARRETT was executed in 1992 for the rape-murder of a Catholic nun, committed when he was 17. As a child, Garrett was beaten by a series of stepfathers and seated on a hot stove because he would not stop crying. He was sodomized by a number of adults and forced to perform pornographic acts (including having sex with a dog) on film.
JOSEPH JOHN CANNON was on Death Row in Texas for a crime he committed as a teenager. He suffered serious head injuries after being hit by a truck when he was four and subsequently spent years in an orphanage. Between the ages of seven and seventeen, Cannon was sexually abused regularly by his stepfather and grandfather. At the age of fifteen he tried to kill himself by drinking insecticide. None of this information was presented to the jury in Cannon's case.
MARVIN MATTHEW TRIPLETT, 39, DOB 4-7-64 in Aiken, SC, and raised in St. Louis, MO, has been on Death Row for 12 years. His time is near ending. Matt would like to locate his sister, Peggy White Triplett, daughter of Homer Therguil Triplett and Mattie Louise White; AmFOR assisted Marvin's search.
AmFOR FEATURED CASES: WRONGLY CONVICTED
The story of wrongfully convicted JOEL LEE DOMINGUES at http://amfor.net/wrongfulconviction and http://AdoptedPrisoners.com (under GEORGIA) exemplifies how a man wronglfully convicted and sentenced to Life Without Parole has really received a Death sentence as he's attempted suicide 7 times from despair over being wrongly convicted. His story also exemplifies what is wrong with our justice system. Despite modern DNA/forensics, wrongful murder convictions are now more prevalent than ever, simply because (1) Prosecutors take short-cuts to secure convictions by offering plea bargains to perpetrators who may falsely identify an innocent party in exchange for a reduced sentence; (2) It takes money that the usually indigent Defendant and Innocence Project groups cannot afford for a proper defense, let alone for appeals through higher courts estimated to cost a minimum of $100,000.
AmFOR's pages on Adopted Prisoners and Adopted Killers confirms findings of psychologists, David M. Kirschner (see http://amFOR.net/ACS on Adopted Child Syndrome) and Reuben Pannor, former Director, now consultant to Vista del Mar Center for emotionally disturbed children, who was quoted (in the LA Times by reporter Beverly Beyette) as follows: "I started working in adoption 30 years ago at Vista del Mar, a residential center for emotionally disturbed children. There, I was surprised to note that every 3rd child had been adopted and had problems."
AmFOR also endeavors to help those who, although they comitted the crime for which they were charged, were nevertheless inappropriately sentenced depending on the state and politics at the time. A case in point is that of Roger Helm (whose web page is on AmFOR's Adopted Prisoners website at AdoptedPrisoners.com, currently under NEW JERSEY where he was moved). Roger did murder members of his adoptive family when he was 14. But he was tried as an adult in Arizona, and sentenced to 88 years, while adoptees in other states who committed the same crime as juveniles were tried as juveniles, rehabilitated and released at legal age.
HOW TO FIND A PRO BONO CRIMINAL ATTORNEY
First, check AmFOR's Attorney Referrals page at http://AmFOR.net/Attorneys for selected State and Federal Public Defenders for criminal appeals, private pro bono lawyers (noting any known to have defended convicted adoptee cases), Innocence Projects, organizations, and links -- listed by state with contact information.
Inability to pay tens of thousands of dollars for an adequate criminal defense results in many being inadequately defended by public defenders whose heavy caseloads and limited resources may result in a wrongful conviction or unfair sentence. The Martindale-Hubbel Directory of Attorneys online lists attorneys by state and according to their specialty. But to locate someone willing to review and represent a case, pro bono, the following website may be helpful:
ATTORNEYS, PRO BONO, BY STATE - www.abanet.org
Also, there are Links to HELPFUL ORGANIZATIONS and WEBSITES at the end of this page, including a DIRECTORY OF PRISONER RESOURCES which includes their mailing addresses, any websites and phone numbers.
AFTER 24 YEARS IN PRISON, MAN HAS A REASON TO SMILE
Scheck
McKesson
Winston "Kevin" McKesson has an abiding sense of justice and human decency. As a criminal defense attorney he works tirelessly for those same principles. Every once in a while we hear about a person who has been falsely accused of a crime and then exonerated. In Georgia a recent case involving a man imprisoned for 24 years was cleared by DNA evidence not available at the time of his conviction. In an article in the December 8th edition of the New York Times (nytimes.com) Shaila Dewan describes the plight of Robert C. Clark, Jr. who was convicted of robbery, rape and kidnapping some 13 years ago, now exonerated by modern technology in Marietta, Georgia. If this had been just an isolated case, it would be one thing. It is not. Through the efforts of famed Attorney Barry Scheck, there is now a national Innocence Project for post-conviction DNA Testing, headquartered at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City. And, increasingly, volunteer groups such as Americans For Open Records (AmFOR.net) quietly work behind the scenes to help the wrongly convicted obtain counsel, DNA testing, expert witness testimony and freedom. With modern day technology crime scene investigators and forensic scientists have more accurate techniques to determine evidence supporting the guilt or innocence of a perpetrator of a crime. Unfortunately there are certain instances where individuals have been executed before their innocence was proved. For this reason death sentences in Illinois have been put on hold, while Texas continues to hold the record for number of executions.
Reprinted article first published on PRLaw Inc Lawyers and Business Executives in the News website, on 1-12-06 at prlawinc.typepad.com, ghost-written by Lori Carangelo, founder of Americans For Open Records (AmFOR) to promote attorneys who defend victims of malpractice and civil rights violations.
On January 19, 2005, Victor Teich, Justice Productions, wrote AmFOR. He has produced documentaries that make a case against the Death Penalty even for the guilty. His letter is excerpted as follows:
"Dear Ms. Carangelo, I am doing research on a second documentary on the Death Penalty. It will tell in more detail the story of Robert Wesley Knighton, whose story your included in [the original] Chosen Children. Knighton is included in the first documentary, The Empty Chair with the emphasis on forgiveness offered by one member of the victim's family, and Knighton's response to that forgiveness. He responded by becoming a human being. In this new film, the emphasis will be on Knighton's life story--abused child, and the path to drugs, prison and murder. The division of the family between forgiveness and revenge will be explored. In your book you have done a wonderful job of establishing the relationship between abuse, adoption, foster care and murder.....The Empty Chair has won wide use as a basis for debate and discussion on the death penalty, having twice been screened nationally on Hallmark Channel's "Faith and Values" program. Also, in addition to screening throughout the United States and Montreal and Taiwan, Amnesty International boguht 800 copies for their national campaign to abolish the death penalty."
Victor Teich, Justice Productions, is actively working at age 89, located at 14 Huntting Lane, East Hampton, NY 11937; (639) 329-5161; e-mail: tvvic@aol.com
HORROR STORIES of the WRONGLY CONVICTED and WRONGLY EXECUTED
Television programs such as "Nightline," (ABC), "American Justice" (A&E), and "Cold Case Files" (CBS) most frequently feature stories (also found on their website archives) of persons wrongly convicted and wrongly executed. The following website, sponsored by A&E, contains perhaps the largest volume of summarized cases of probable innocent persons executed: Death Penalty Issues: www.truthinjustice.org/dpissues.html . AmFOR became particularly involved in assisting 2 wrongly convicted Georgia adoptees, JOEL LEE DOMINGUES and CHARLES ALLEN FUSS - See http://AmFOR.net/WronglyConvicted.LINKS TO HELPFUL ORGANIZATIONS and WEBSITES (alphabetically):
- American Civil Liberties Union - www.aclu.org/DeathPenalty
- AmFOR's Lawyer Referrals - http://amfor.net/Attorneys
- Amnesty International - www.amnesty.org/deathpenalty
- Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty - www.ccadp.org
- Centurion Ministries - www.centurionministries.org
- Directory of Prisoner Resources - http://www.adoptedprisoners.com/PrisonerResources/
- Find a Lawyer - www.abanet.org
- Innocence Project - www.innocenceproject.org
- Prison Reform Unity Project - www.vip-cali.com/prup/
RECOMMENDED BOOKS and MOVIES:
