New Mexico May Execute Seven More Before Death Penalty Repeal

DEATH PENALTY SUPPORTERS in New Mexico who were disappointed recently when Governor Bill Richardson signed the the death penalty repeal bill have good reason for celebration today.  Governor Richardson has reportedly decided to allow execution of the state's remaining two death row inmates.  Additionally, there are five other men who are subject to lethal injection before retiring the death chamber.

New Mexico's abolition of the death penalty and the final steps leading to repeal were reported in this article:

Klling Inmates Is Costly~Cheaper to Watch TV (w/ Torture Videos)
http://my.nowpublic.com/world/killing-inmates-costly-cheaper-watch-tv-w-torture-videos

An email sent by an abolitionist tonight read:  "Part of Governor Richardson's own statement when signing the abolition bill into law was that he did not have faith in our justice system to say who lives or dies. So, the question remains, what is the difference for these seven men? Are their lives less important because of a date on the calendar?" See the entire email below.

It now appears that New Mexican death penalty supporters may get in a few more lethal injections before the repeal takes effect.  In honor of this news, the link below presents Al Green's hit single, "FOR THE GOOD TIMES."  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjJnUBHCGfg

Al sings "Lay your head on my pillow," but I don't know if that applies.  There may not really be pillows on lethal injection tables, but one might ask a reporter who witnessed the recent Virginia execution of  Anthony Bell.  The retarded man was drug into the death chamber by six strong guards, then panicked at the door when he saw the waiting table .  Reporters observed the condemned man thrust his hips backward, trying not to enter the chamber.  Bell put up quite a struggle before being successfully strapped down and injected.  Ask one of them.

New Mexico gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "for the good times" and "one for the road" (maybe seven for the road).

The email which reported New Mexico's death penalty news is below.

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Last year on April 20th, I joined Capital X in solidarity as he walked for Michael Astorga during his 1,300 mile walk across the country in protest of the death penalty. I held a press conference on this day to remind people why we do not need the death penalty and to remind them that Michael Astorga is innocent until proven guilty. A year later, Michael is still awaiting trial. Although the death penalty has now been repealed in New Mexico, Michael is still in danger of facing the death penalty if he is convicted because the bill that Governor Richardson signed into law on March 18th is not retroactive. The bill does not go into effect until July 1st.  Michael is not the only one affected by this bill. There are four other men who could see a death sentence if convicted. Remember these names:  Arturo Alvarado, John La Bombard, William Watson and Justin Rome.

There are two men currently on death row. Timothy Allen and Robert Fry. Governor Richardson has said he WILL NOT commute the sentences of these two men. The governor has also publicly said he supports the DA's choice to continue to seek the death penalty against Michael Astorga.
 
Part of Governor Richardson's own statement when signing the abolition bill into law was that he did not have faith in our justice system to say who lives or dies. So, the question remains, what is the difference for these seven men? Are their lives less important because of a date on the calendar?
 
On April 20th, I ask everyone to please call, email, fax, write to Governor Richardson and remind him that abolition should mean abolition for everyone and that he should not contradict his own reasoning for signing the bill into law!  Please also contact the three DA's who are seeking death sentences for the five current pending capital cases.
 
I have spent the past two years since April 20th, my birthday, fighting for the rights of others and being the voice that they need. I hope you help me to accomplish my goal again this year.
 
In Struggle,

Member
 
CEDP-ABQ Chapter
 
Please re-post far and wide!

Governor Bill Richardson
Office of the Governor
490 Old Santa Fe Trail
Room 400
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505-476-2200
http://www.governor .state.nm. us/email. php?mm=6&type=opinion

District Attorney Kari Brandenburg
Seeking the death penalty for :  Michael Astorga and Arturo Alvarado

Mailing/Street Address:
520 Lomas NW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
Telephone: (505) 841-7100
Fax: (505) 841-7015
2ndDA@da.state. nm.us 

District Attorney Angela Pacheco
Seeking the Death Penalty for John La Bombard  and Justin Romero

327 Sandoval St.
Santa Fe, NM 87504
Telephone: (505) 827-5000
Fax: (505) 827-5076
1stDA@da.state. nm.us 

District Attorney Michael Chandler
Seeking the death penalty for:  William Watson

Roosevelt County Courthouse - Suite B-1
Portales , NM 88130
Telephone: (575) 356-4434
Fax: (575) 359-3083
9thDA@da.state. nm.us

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Many people are disappointed in New Mexico's decision to continue executions, like the abolitionist who wrote the above email, but no one so much as Timothy, Robert, Arturo, John, William, Justin, and Michael.  Apparently, Gov. Richardson found enough "faith in the justice system" to allow execution for some or all seven of them, after all.

New Mexico's death penalty repeal will be effective on July 1.  After that, cable TV will have to suffice, unless New Mexicans who miss capital punishment visit a neighboring state where executions remain frequent.

Many people accused of capital crimes must depend on attorneys furnished by the court.  Oftentimes, these people get poor legal representation and lose their lives as a result.  An interesting essay is presented at this link:  http://www.capitalpunishmentbook.com/?p=164

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BAD LAWYERS STILL GET PAID
By Billy Sinclaire
April 20, 2009
                 Death row inmate Juan Castillo is represented by a San Antonio attorney named Suzanne Kramer. She has a disturbing history of missing appeal deadlines in capital cases. Last October the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals removed her from three death penalty cases and fined her $750. According to the Houston Chronicle (April 20, 2009), Kramer has been paid $86,577 in fees by Bexar County since 2007, although she was not able to collect on the three cases in which she missed filing deadlines as order by the appeals court. Castillo now wants her removed from his case.

            “I know if this lawyer stays on my case I’ll definitely be executed,” the condemned inmate told the Chronicle in a letter. “She’s refused to respond to any of my letters … she’s never come to see me to discuss my case (and) my writ was due on Dec. 11, 2006 and she never filed it.”

            The Court of Criminal Appeals refused to remove Kramer from Castillo’s case, even though the court criticized her claim that she had mailed the inmate’s writ to a Bexar County judge. Court filing rules require that all pleadings, including writs of habeas corpus, be filed in the county clerk’s office, not with the judge directly. As Bexar County district court clerk Gerry Rickhoff told the Chronicle: “Judges don’t file lawsuits. I guess that would go on her credibility as a lawyer.”

            Kramer’s statement that she filed the writ with a county judge should have been enough to get her removed from Castillo’s case. If she does not know how to file a writ, a reasonable inference can be drawn that she does not know how to adequately prepare one. She is a serial late filer who should not be representing any criminal case, much less a death penalty case.

            Tarrant County attorney Jack V. Strickland, Jr. is another serial late filer. The Chronicle stated that this former Tarrant County district attorney “specializes in capital cases,” even though he has also repeatedly missed filing deadlines. The Chronicle pointed out that courts have accepted his explanations in four of the five cases in which he missed deadlines. Between 2006 and 2009, Tarrant County paid this death penalty specialist some $428,650.62, a fourth of which came from cases in which he missed filing deadlines. It must be good to get paid so handsomely for not doing what you are suppose to do . . .  (See link above for full essay.)

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Below are two entries from ACLU online:  http://blog.aclu.org/

Veteran Federal Judge Says Death Penalty Still Arbitrary and Too Costly

Reflecting on his 30 years as judge hearing death penalty cases on the U.S., Judge Boyce M. Martin, Jr. of the Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit wrote in an opinion released today (PDF) that capital punishment in this country remains "arbitrary, biased, and so fundamentally flawed at its very core that it is beyond repair." Judge Martin went on to state: "The system’s deep flaws and high costs raise a simple but important question: is the death penalty worth what it costs us?" Citing empirical studies concerning the costs of the death penalty, Judge Martin then persuasively demonstrates that the costs of continuing to prop up this broken system are enormous and unsustainable.

His opinion is a concurrence in the Wiles v. Bagley case.

Today, NewYorker.com published a letter to the editor from John Holdridge, Director of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project:

An increasing number of jurists throughout the world have concluded that our system of capital punishment constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, in part because the vast majority of U.S. death-row inmates are required to remain alone in their cells twenty-three hours a day and denied virtually any human contact. Unlike other prisoners, however, they are made to endure these barbaric conditions not because of their conduct in prison but because they have been condemned to die, and they have no opportunity to end their isolation through good behavior. Rather, they are made to sit alone in their cells day after day and year after year, envisioning what they continually fear is their impending execution.

Gawande writes: "The United States holds tens of thousands of inmates in long-term solitary confinement. Is this torture?" After reading the article, we think you’ll agree with us that it is indeed.

For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth; To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.  ~ Psalm 102