Sorry for a mega-long post - hope Shorty & Co don't fall over. I don't push every death sentence up your noses, but this one's worth the reading for anyone half interested in these things. It points to a standard of justice even worse than we now get in the UK, and I'm sure there will be one or two Mudcatters at least, each side of the pond, prepared to put metaphorical pen to paper - for which, thanks in advance. How to take action is at the bottom of the post, and maybe you'd refresh the thread too. If you think the guy has gotta go, I'm not going to argue. We've had some useful debates about capital punishment in other threads, so no need to do it all again here.

Everything after this sentence to the end of the post is copied (with minor editing by me) from a briefing put out by Amnesty International, Amnesty being one of those rare organisations that can, occasionally, actually make a difference.

+-----------------------------------------------------+
Paper reprints authorised. Electronic redistributors must request permission from Amnesty International.
+ Contact: ua@amnesty.org.uk
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22 June 2001: UA 156/01 Death penalty / Legal concern
USA (Texas) Napoleon Beazley, black, aged 24

Napoleon Beazley, 24, is due to be executed in Texas 15 August 2001. He was sentenced to death 1995 for a murder in Tyler, Smith County, committed when he was 17.

The murder victim was John Luttig, white, the father of a federal appellate judge. One of the trial jurors appears to have been a long-time employee of one of John Luttig's business partners, which was not revealed during jury selection. The jury was all-white despite Smith County's population being 20 per cent African American. Moreover, it has emerged that at least one juror harboured racial bias against blacks. The juror's wife stated in an affidavit: "My husband...is racially prejudiced. I have heard [him] use the word "nigger" on more occasions than not when talking about black people... I would find it difficult to believe that [he] could have set his prejudice aside and not let it influence him to some degree."

There was little basis for the jury's finding of Beazley's "future dangerousness" - a requirement for a death sentence in Texas. He was the runner-up for "most popular" in his secondary school. He had no prior arrest record, and the state produced no evidence of any other assaults by him. It relied on testimony from his two co-defendants - which they later admitted was given in return for a prosecution promise not to pursue the death penalty against them.

Many witnesses, including the District Attorney in Napoleon Beazley's home town, testified about good aspects of his character and his potential for rehabilitation. He has been a model prisoner. Before all death row prisoners were confined to their cells 23 hours a day, Beazley was one of a few "trustees" assigned to jobs within the prison. He remains close to his mother, father,younger brother and other relatives, who visit him regularly.

International law, respected by almost every country in the world, forbids the execution of child offenders - those under 18 at the time of the crime - in recognition of their immaturity, impulsiveness, and capacity for change. In May, Napoleon Beazley's mother said to Amnesty: "People change. You can't hold a 17-year-old by the same standards as me or you...I know Napoleon is much better now than he was then."

Since his trial, the execution of child offenders has become almost unknown outside the USA. In those six years only the USA (eight; four of them in Texas); Pakistan (one); Democratic Republic of Congo (one); Nigeria (one); and Iran (three), have carried out such executions. A third of the USA's condemned child offenders are on death row in Texas, and of these 31 Texas inmates, 24 belong to racial or ethnic minorities.

A February 2001 Houston Chronicle poll showed only 25 percent in Harris County, Texas, and 34 percent statewide support the death penalty for child offenders. The Texas House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would have raised the death penalty eligibility age to 18, and it might have passed the Senate but for high-level political intervention.

In Texas, the Governor can grant clemency if the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends it. The Texas administrative Code says the Board will consider recommending commutation if a "majority of the trial officials" request it. Such a request would carry weight with the Board, which has never granted commutation of a death sentence purely on the basis of an inmate's clemency petition, since the resumption of executions in the USA in 1977. In that time, Texas has executed 247 prisoners out of a national total of 720.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, IN YOUR OWN WORDS, in English or your own language....

- expressing sympathy for the family and friends of John Luttig, and acknowledging that nothing can excuse the manner of his death;

- explaining that you are writing to the addressee as one of the trial officials in the 1995 trial of Napoleon Beazley;

PLEASE ADD ANY (OR ALL) OF THE FOLLOWING POINTS:

- Texas is seeking to execute Napoleon Beazley in the face of a worldwide consensus, apparently embracing a majority of Texas citizens and its House of Representatives, that it is wrong to execute people who were under 18 at time of crime;

- no member of Napoleon Beazley's race served on his jury, and one of the jurors has been shown to harbour serious racial prejudice;

- one juror appears to have been a long-time employee of one of John Luttig's business partners (not revealed during jury selection);

- despite the jury's finding of future dangerousness, Napoleon Beazley has been a model prisoner and has justified the confidence of witnesses who testified to his capacity for rehabilitation;

- this capacity for change in a young person lies behind a global consensus against the death penalty for under-18-year-olds;

FINALLY, PLEASE URGE THE ADDRESSEE - in the interests of justice, decency and the reputation of the State of Texas - to ask the Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend that Napoleon Beazley's death sentence be commuted by the State Governor.

ADDRESS APPEALS TO (Time difference in UK = GMT - 5 hrs / BST - 6 hrs):

Jack Skeen, Jr. [Salutation: Dear District Attorney]
Smith County District Attorney, 100 N. Broadway, Tyler, Texas 75702, USA
Fax: 00 1 903 535 0410

David Dobbs (ex-Assistant District Attorney, Smith County), [Salutation: Dear Mr Dobbs]
112 E. Line, Suite 300, Tyler, Texas 75702, USA
Fax: 00 1 903 595 1999

Sheriff J. B. Smith [Salutation: Dear Sheriff]
106 E. Elm Street, Tyler, Texas 75702, USA
Fax: 00 1 903 535 0724

Out of respect for the independence of the judiciary, please do not appeal directly to the one other trial official, the judge. But in your appeals to the above addressees, please request that they convey your concerns to that official, the Honourable Judge Cynthia S. Kent.

IF POSSIBLE, PLEASE COPY LETTERS TO:

Tyler Morning Telegraph
P.O. Box 2030
Tyler, Texas 75710, USA
Fax: 00 1 903 595 0335

LETTERS FROM THE UK SHOULD ALSO BE COPIED, IF POSSIBLE, TO

His Excellency Mr Glyn Davies, Embassy of United States of America, Grosvenor Square, London W1A 1AE. Fax: 020 7409 1637

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.