British lawyers fight to halt 'obscene' US execution of Jack Alderman: "Innocent' man has been on death row since 1975
British lawyers will make an 11th-hour attempt to save America's longest-serving death-row prisoner from execution this week.
The Law Society, the Bar Council and the charity Reprieve are calling on David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, to use diplomatic channels to stay the execution of Jack Alderman and end what they call the "gross injustice of 34 years." They have also sent letters to the governor and attorney-general of Georgia and its Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Alderman, 57, who is represented free of charge by the London law firm Clifford Chance, has been on death row in Georgia since 1975 and has always maintained his innocence. He was convicted for his part in the killing of his wife, Barbara Jean Alderman, and faces death by lethal injection on Tuesday.
Tim Dutton, QC, chairman of the Bar Council, said: "I am concerned that the execution of Mr Alderman may be a grave miscarriage of justice. In any event, the execution of this man in these circumstances raises serious questions about his human rights."
Paul Marsh, president of the Law Society, said that execution would amount to cruel and unusual punishment. "We urge the American Government to use their discretionary power to quash the warrant for execution and order commutation of his death sentence," he added.
"On behalf of the legal profession, I want to ensure the proper observance of the independence of that profession, the rule of law and human rights in all jurisdictions throughout the world."
Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieves director, said: "I first met Jack in 1981 and 27 years later the state of Georgia still wants to execute him, even though he is completely innocent. He is an old man now. This whole situation is just obscene."
Alderman's codefendant, John Brown, a drug addict and alcoholic, confessed to the murder, but then changed his story to implicate Alderman. Brown claimed that he and Alderman killed Mrs Alderman together, and that Alderman promised to pay him for his role in the killing. There was no forensic evidence and Alderman was convicted only as a result of statements provided by Brown.
The district attorney who prosecuted Alderman said that he had structured the entire case around Brown's testimony. It was also later disclosed that Brown made a deal with prosecutors to implicate Alderman. 2 of the jurors have said that they would not have voted to execute Alderman if they had known about the deal with Brown. Five jurors have since urged that Alderman be spared.
Alderman and Brown were sentenced to death, but Brown later pleaded guilty in return for a prison sentence and was freed after serving only 12 years.
The British legal bodies are also pressing for clemency in the case of Troy Davis, an American, who is due to be executed on September 23, also in Georgia, after 15 years on death row. He was convicted in 1991 of the murder of a police officer, Mark Allen MacPhail, solely on the basis of witness testimony, with no forensic or physical supporting evidence.
Most of the prosecution witnesses have subsequently recanted or contradicted their original testimony.
The Law Society said that it was deeply troubled about the reliability of the witness evidence. It added: "The society holds no position on the retention or abolition of the death penalty in the domestic law of any country, but is concerned to see that it is used in strict accordance with international law."
Source: The Times
British lawyers will make an 11th-hour attempt to save America's longest-serving death-row prisoner from execution this week.
The Law Society, the Bar Council and the charity Reprieve are calling on David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, to use diplomatic channels to stay the execution of Jack Alderman and end what they call the "gross injustice of 34 years." They have also sent letters to the governor and attorney-general of Georgia and its Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Alderman, 57, who is represented free of charge by the London law firm Clifford Chance, has been on death row in Georgia since 1975 and has always maintained his innocence. He was convicted for his part in the killing of his wife, Barbara Jean Alderman, and faces death by lethal injection on Tuesday.
Tim Dutton, QC, chairman of the Bar Council, said: "I am concerned that the execution of Mr Alderman may be a grave miscarriage of justice. In any event, the execution of this man in these circumstances raises serious questions about his human rights."
Paul Marsh, president of the Law Society, said that execution would amount to cruel and unusual punishment. "We urge the American Government to use their discretionary power to quash the warrant for execution and order commutation of his death sentence," he added.
"On behalf of the legal profession, I want to ensure the proper observance of the independence of that profession, the rule of law and human rights in all jurisdictions throughout the world."
Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieves director, said: "I first met Jack in 1981 and 27 years later the state of Georgia still wants to execute him, even though he is completely innocent. He is an old man now. This whole situation is just obscene."
Alderman's codefendant, John Brown, a drug addict and alcoholic, confessed to the murder, but then changed his story to implicate Alderman. Brown claimed that he and Alderman killed Mrs Alderman together, and that Alderman promised to pay him for his role in the killing. There was no forensic evidence and Alderman was convicted only as a result of statements provided by Brown.
The district attorney who prosecuted Alderman said that he had structured the entire case around Brown's testimony. It was also later disclosed that Brown made a deal with prosecutors to implicate Alderman. 2 of the jurors have said that they would not have voted to execute Alderman if they had known about the deal with Brown. Five jurors have since urged that Alderman be spared.
Alderman and Brown were sentenced to death, but Brown later pleaded guilty in return for a prison sentence and was freed after serving only 12 years.
The British legal bodies are also pressing for clemency in the case of Troy Davis, an American, who is due to be executed on September 23, also in Georgia, after 15 years on death row. He was convicted in 1991 of the murder of a police officer, Mark Allen MacPhail, solely on the basis of witness testimony, with no forensic or physical supporting evidence.
Most of the prosecution witnesses have subsequently recanted or contradicted their original testimony.
The Law Society said that it was deeply troubled about the reliability of the witness evidence. It added: "The society holds no position on the retention or abolition of the death penalty in the domestic law of any country, but is concerned to see that it is used in strict accordance with international law."
Source: The Times
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