Execution Log – 01/14/13-01/20/13: 01/16,Gleason,VA

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.

VA       Robert Gleason, Jr.                               scheduled 01/16/2013

You can e-mail Governor Bob McDonnell through his web-site:  http://www.governor.virginia.gov/AboutTheGovernor/contactGovernor.cfm

phone:     804-786-2211

fax:         804-371-6351

other Virginia contacts:

Parole Board

phone: 804-674-3081

Richmond Times-Dispatch

e-dress: mailto:fgreen@timesdispatch.com?subject=Impending%20Execution:%20Robert%20Gleason,%20Jr.,%2001/16/13

phone:    804-649-6000
fax:         804-819-1216

The Virginia-Pilot

e-dress: mailto:letters@pilotonline.com?subject=Impending%20Execution:%20Robert%20Gleason,%20Jr.,%2001/16/13

phone:    757-446-2314
fax:         757-446-2051

I am writing to ask you, Governor McDonnell, to stop your state’s execution of Robert Gleason, Jr.  Mr. Gleason is scheduled to die next Wednesday, 01/16/13, for the 2009 murder of Harvey Grant Watson, a cellmate.

Mr. Gleason has been convicted of three murders, including Mr. Watson.  He Has repeatedly called for his own execution.  He fired all his lawyers at trial and represented himself, providing no defense.  At least one of his murders was motivated by his own death wish.  Two things are evident here:  first, Mr. Gleason is clearly unable to control his own behavior due to mental illness and, second, he has roped your state into collaborating with him in his own ‘suicide by execution’.  Governor McConnell, you must cancel this execution in order to prevent Robert Gleason’s suicide and to allow time for the treatment he needs for his mental illness.

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 McConnell, stop this killing of Robert Gleason, Jr..   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.