Execution Log – 06/04/12-06/10/12: 06/06,Akwal,OH
NOTE: Bobby Hines was scheduled for execution next week by the government of the state of Texas, but prosecutors requested that the death warrant be withdrawn because they have not yet received results of new DNA testing.
This log includes information on one execution scheduled for next week, 06/04/12-06/10/12. Here are copies of the e-mails I sent to people in states with scheduled executions asking them to intervene. Please e-mail, phone or fax appeals of your own. You are welcome to cut & paste.
OH Abdul Akwal scheduled 06/06/12
You can e-mail Governor John Kasich at his website: http://www.governor.ohio.gov/Contact/ContacttheGovernor.aspx
Phone: (614) 466-3555
Fax: (602) 542-1381
Other Ohio contacts:
The Columbus Dispatch
e-mail: dcarson@dispatch.com
The Ohio Pardons and Parole Board
e-dress: drc.publicinfo@odrc.state.oh.us
phone: (614) 752-1200
fax: (614) 752-0600
I ask you, Governor Kasich, to stop your state’s execution of Abdul Akwal. Mr. Akwal is scheduled to be poisoned by the government of Ohio next Wednesday, 06/06/12, for the 1992 murders of his estranged wife, Latife, and brother in law, Mahmoud, during a bitter religious and custody battle.
Mr. Awkal has been subjected to extraordinary pressures all his life, including the first nine years spent in the middle of the Lebanese civil war. Several medical practitioners, including those representing the state of Ohio, have diagnosed him schizoaffective. His life-long psychiatric case file includes post-traumatic stress disorder and hallucinations. He has repeatedly been found mentally incompetent to be executed by one court, only to have the judgment reversed in another. David Singleton, Mr. Akwal’s lawyer and the executive director of the Ohio Justice & Policy Center, says “Mr. Awkal is very seriously mentally ill and does not understand why he is being executed.” The United States Supreme Court long ago declared execution of the mentally ill a violation of the Constitution’s bar against cruel and unusual punishment. Governor Kasich, for humanitarian and legal reasons, Ohio may not execute Abdul Akwal. It is left to you to cancel this impending miscarriage of justice!
Former Attorney General of the United States Janet Reno, as well as myriads of scholars, can find no evidence that the death penalty deters capital crimes. In fact, the warden of the famous Sing Sing prison believes that the death penalty exacerbates the violence in his facility by setting an example of cold-blooded killing. Recent studies show that the largest increase in capital crimes is in the state of Texas, the state which executes the most people. As for vengeance, that is the Lord’s, not the government’s.
Please, Governor Kasich, stop this killing of Abdul Akwal. If this execution goes forward, look around this country for the black armbands worn, and the church bells tolled, in protest of this injustice.
Thank you.
Execution Scorecard – 05/21/12-06/10/12
Last Week (05/21/12/-05/27/12)
!!! None executed !!!
This week (05/28/12/-06/03/12) see previous Execution Log for details
!!! None scheduled !!!
Next Week (06/04/12/-06/10/12) see next Execution Log for details
06/06 Abdul Hamin Akwal Ohio Scheduled
06/06 Bobby Hines Texas !!!Stayed!!! to await new DNA results
Execution Scorecard – 05/14/12-06/03/12
Last Week (05/14/12/-05/20/12)
05/16 Samuel V. Lopez Arizona !!!Stayed!!! to review clemency board
05/16 Steven Staley Texas !!!Stayed!!! to assess mental capacity
This week (05/21/12/-05/27/12) see previous Execution Log for details
!!! None scheduled !!!
Next Week (05/28/12/-06/03/12) see next Execution Log for details
!!! None scheduled !!!
!!!STAY ISSUED!!!: 05/16/12, Lopez, AZ
Late last night the Arizona Supreme Court stayed the execution of Samuel Lopez, scheduled for today, 05/16/12, saying he had not received a fair clemency hearing from the newly constituted state paroles board. Three recently added members have not yet attended the mandated training for participation in such hearings.
NOTE: Steven Staley of Texas was scheduled to die tomorrow, 05/16/12, but over the weekend a Texas District Court judge issued a stay to review the constitutionality of medicating Mr. Staley in order to make him sane enough to be executed (I am not making this up!).
Please wear a black wrist band tomorrow, 05/16/12, in silent protest of the execution of Samuel Lopez by the government of the state of Arizona. Mr. Lopez will be poisoned to death for the 1986 brutal murder of Estefana Holmes.
Arizona must clear up a docket full of legal problems with Samuel Lopez’s case before exacting its pound of flesh from him. Governor Brewer reconstituted the state’s parole board at the end of April this year, packing it with three new members having obvious prejudgments about the death penalty. One is a member of a police organization that publicly advocates the death penalty. Aside from the bias, a suit filed by Mr. Lopez’s attorneys alleges that the Governor violated twenty different state statues in the reorganization of the parole board. Just a few days a Superior Court judge in Arizona scheduled for a hearing in July because he believes that the clemency hearing for Mr. Lopez was unfair due to the lack of qualifications of many of its members. At the same time, the judge declared that he has no authority to stop this execution, making a hearing date moot. If the legal problems are ever resolved, the issue that factors mitigating Mr. Lopez’s culpability in this crime, like severe childhood abuse and brain damage, were never reviewed during his trial amounts to unconstitutionally inadequate representation. Samuel Lopez has not received his federally guaranteed fair trial! Arizona cannot let this injustice stand!
Execution Scorecard – 05/07/12-05/27/12
Last Week (05/07/12/-05/13/12)
05/09 Todd Wessinger Louisiana !!!Stayed!!! to review childhood abuse, inadequate counsel
This week (05/14/12/-05/20/12) see previous Execution Log for details
05/16 Samuel V. Lopez Arizona scheduled
05/16 Steven Staley Texas scheduled
Next Week (05/21/12/-05/27/12) see next Execution Log for details
!!! None scheduled !!!
This log includes information 2 executions scheduled for next week, 05/14/12-05/20/12. Here are copies of the e-mails I sent to people in states with scheduled executions asking them to intervene. Please e-mail, phone or fax appeals of your own. You are welcome to cut & paste.
AZ Samuel Lopez scheduled 05/16/12
You can e-mail Governor Jan Brewer at her website: http://www.azgovernor.gov/Contact.asp
phone: (602) 542-4331
fax: (602) 542-1381
Other Arizona contacts:
The Arizona Republic
web site: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
phone: (602) 444-6397
University of Arizona Student Media
e-dress: edman@email.arizona.edu
phone: (520) 621-3551
I ask you, Governor Brewer, to stop your state’s execution of Samuel Lopez. Mr. Lopez is scheduled to be poisoned by the government of Arizona next Wednesday, 05/16/12, for the 1986 murder of Estefana Holmes.
Arizona must clear up a docket full of legal problems with Samuel Lopez’s case before exacting its pound of flesh from him. Governor Brewer reconstituted the state’s parole board at the end of April this year, packing it with three new members having obvious prejudgments about the death penalty. One is a member of a police organization that publicly advocates the death penalty. Aside from the bias, a suit filed by Mr. Lopez’s attorneys alleges that the Governor violated twenty different state statues in the reorganization of the parole board. If the legal problems are ever resolved, the issue that factors mitigating Mr. Lopez’s culpability in this crime, like severe childhood abuse and brain damage, were never reviewed during his trial amounts to unconstitutionally inadequate representation. Samuel Lopez has not received his federally guaranteed fair trial! Governor Brewer, you cannot let this injustice stand!
Former Attorney General of the United States Janet Reno, as well as myriads of scholars, can find no evidence that the death penalty deters capital crimes. In fact, the warden of the famous Sing Sing prison believes that the death penalty exacerbates the violence in his facility by setting an example of cold-blooded killing. Recent studies show that the largest increase in capital crimes is in the state of Texas, the state which executes the most people. As for vengeance, that is the Lord’s, not the government’s.
Please, Governor Brewer, stop this killing of Samuel Lopez. If this execution goes forward, look around this country for the black armbands worn, and the church bells tolled, in protest of this injustice.
Thank you.
TX Steven Staley scheduled 05/16/12
You can e-mail Governor Rick Perry at his website: http://www.governor.state.tx.us/contact
phone: (512) 463 2000
fax: (512) 463 1849
other Texas contacts:
Pardons and Paroles
phone: (512) 406 5852
fax: (512) 467 0945
Austin American Statesman
e-dress: letters@statesman.com
phone: (512) 445-3667
fax: (512) 445-3679
Houston Chronicle
e-dress: hci@chron.com
phone: (713) 220-7491
I ask you, Governor Perry, to stop your state’s execution of Steven Staley. Mr. Staley is scheduled to die next Wednesday, 02/16/12, for the 1989 murder of Robert Read.
Mr. Staley’s case exposes your state’s blood lust. He is a paranoid schizophrenic whose mother, suffering from the same mental defect, tried to kill him repeatedly during his childhood. His father was an abusive alcoholic and Steven Staley himself attempted suicide at age 16. Texas is now going to see that he succeeds. Your state requires that a prisoner ‘comprehend his impending execution’. The only way that Steven Staley can meet that standard is under the influence of the force-fed anti-psychotic drugs prison officials have force-fed him. Governor Perry, this is a gruesome spectacle; you must intervene to allow time for justice to be done.
Former Attorney General of the United States Janet Reno, as well as myriads of scholars, can find no evidence that the death penalty deters capital crimes. In fact, the warden of the famous Sing Sing prison believes that the death penalty exacerbates the violence in his facility by setting an example of cold-blooded killing. Recent studies show that the largest increase in capital crimes is in Texas, the state which executes the most people. As for vengeance, that is the Lord’s, not the government’s.
Please, Governor Perry, stop this killing of Steven Staley. If this execution goes forward, look around this country for the black armbands worn, and the church bells tolled, in protest of this injustice.
Thank you.
