Washington state: Exonerated man urges end to death penalty in Bremerton speech

Kirk Bloodsworth, the 1st person to be exonerated from a death sentence by DNA testing in the United States, spoke to an audience at the Emmanuel Apolistic Church in Bremerton on Saturday about his experiences being imprisoned as an innocent man.

In 1984, Bloodsworth was arrested for the rape and murder of 9-year-old Dawn Hamilton in Baltimore County, Maryland. He was sentenced to death in 1985.

Bloodsworth spent a significant portion of his time incarcerated reading and studying, and detailed to the audience the breakthrough in his quest for innocence, which came while reading "The Blooding" by Joseph Wambaugh, a chronicle of the 1st use of DNA testing in a criminal case to convict a serial killer in England.

"DNA - deoxyribonucleic acid. Took me almost 10 years to learn how to pronounce that," Bloodsworth said. "I didn't know at the time that those 3 letters were my get-out-of-jail and freedom card."

The event was hosted by Witness to Innocence, a national organization comprised and led by exonerated death row inmates and their family members.

"I think innocence is one of the most compelling reasons to abolish the death penalty, and I think even people who theoretically believe in the death penalty don't think we should kill innocent people," said Stefanie Anderson, the director of communications of Witness to Innocence and the board president of the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Bloodsworth was in Olympia on Thursday and Friday lobbying for the repeal of the death penalty. On Thursday, Senate Bill 6052, which proposes to replace capital punishment with life imprisonment without parole, advanced out of the Senate committee on a 4-3 party-line vote.

Antoinette DeWalt of Bremerton attended the Saturday talk as an ardent supporter of abolishing the death penalty. But she said Bloodsworth's speech and his fight for his innocence was inspiring.

Steve Belknap, who drove from Olympia to hear Bloodsworth speech, was similarly impressed.

"It just makes it so shockingly apparent that this system fails so many," he said. "I think that's why it's so important to share this message with so many people for the sake of justice."

Repealing the death penalty has been a polarizing conversation for state legislators in recent years. Past bills on the issue have been stalled.

The chairmen of the of the Law and Justice Committee, state Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, along with 3 others voted yes on Thursday to advance the bill. 3 Republicans, including Sen. Jan Angel, R-Port Orchard, voted no.

Kitsap County Sheriff Gary Simpson was one of the many who testified before the committee in opposition to the bill. Simpson spoke about his personal experience as a family member of a murder victim. His stepdaughter, Georgia Gunzer, was murdered in her Tacoma home in 2011. Alphonso Albert Bell is serving a 38-year sentence for Gunzer's death.

He cited other examples of murder cases in Kitsap County where he thought the death penalty may have deterred the crimes.

"I hope that my examples give you some insights into what the families and the victims have to go through as survivors," Simpson said in his testimony. "Without the death penalty, the plea for life without the possibility of parole is almost impossible. It's not all about economics. It is about public safety, it is about deterrent and it is about fair justice."

A study by Seattle University in 2015 determined that death penalty cases cost on average $1 million more to prosecute because of the lengthy appeal process.

Critics of the death penalty, such as King County prosecutor Dan Satterberg, argue that it's not only costly, but ineffective as a deterrent.

"It's not about what the killers deserve; it's about what we deserve," Satterberg said during his testimony on Jan. 22. "If you look at it carefully and take away the politics and the emotion, by any measure this doesn't work. Our criminal justice system would be stronger without the death penalty."

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee instituted a moratorium on the death penalty across the state in 2014.

32 people have been sentenced to death since Washington state reinstated the death penalty in 1981. But only 5 have been executed.

Since 1973, 161 death row inmates have been exonerated nationwide.

As Senate Bill 6052 makes its way through the Legislature, Bloodsworth urged those in the audience to voice their opinions to district representatives.

"I know it's a heavy issue, but we've got to talk about the heavy stuff and tell them to pass the bill so it doesn't happen to their neighbor," he said.

Source: Kitsap Sun, January 28, 2018

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Comments

Florida: The Daily Routine of Death Row Inmates

The breakfast carts rattle through the concrete prison at about 5:30 am and as they approach Death Row the first sounds of morning repeat the last sounds of night - remote controlled locks clanging open and clunking closed, electric gates whirring, heavy metal doors crashing shut, voices wailing, klaxons blaring. A maximum security prison has no soft or delicate sounds. At the end of each corridor of death row cells a guard opens a heavy door of steel bars and a prison trusty pushes a breakfast cart inside. The door closes behind him and when it locks a second door opens and admits the trusty to the wing. He steers his cart along the wing stopping at each cell to pass a tray of powdered eggs and lukewarm grits through a small slot on the bars. Food is prepared by prison staff and transported in insulated carts to the cells. The food carts are full of cockroaches, the food is often undercooked or just rotten and is served on Styrofoam plates with a plastic "spork" - fork/spoon...

Prosecutors may pursue death penalty in Alex Murdaugh retrial, South Carolina AG says

Alan Wilson said prosecutors are “back to square one” and all legal options are on the table. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Friday that his office may pursue the death penalty when it retries Alex Murdaugh in the 2021 murder of his son and wife. “In light of the Supreme Court’s decision, we’re back to square one on this case, and that means all our legal options are on the table, including the death penalty,” Wilson said. The state’s high court reversed Murdaugh’s double murder conviction in an opinion published Wednesday that accused a former court clerk of “egregious” jury interference.

Former Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip goes free on $500k bond

Richard Glossip was released from jail Thursday, May 14, on a $500,000 bond, a major victory for the former death row inmate who has come so close to execution that he has had three last meals. Glossip, 63, is awaiting his third trial in his 1997 murder-for-hire case. He walked out the front door of the Oklahoma County jail, holding hands with his wife, Lea Glossip, as a stiff Oklahoma breeze whipped his hair. "I'm just thankful for my wife and my attorneys," he told reporters. "I'm just happy." His release came hours after Oklahoma County District Judge Natalie Mai set bail in a 13-page order that pointed to issues with the key witness against him.

Texas executes Edward Busby Jr.

Texas puts man to death for a retired professor's killing in its 600th execution since 1982 A man who experts for both prosecutors and defense attorneys had said was intellectually disabled became the 600th person executed in Texas since 1982, put to death Thursday evening for the killing of a retired 77-year-old college professor. Edward Busby Jr. was pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m. local time following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, hours after a divided Supreme Court lifted a stay over his disabilities claims. The execution followed a series of last-minute legal efforts by Busby's attorneys in a bid to spare his life after the nation’s high court lifted a stay hours earlier.

South Korea ferry disaster: Surviving passengers of Sewol tragedy give evidence in court

Surviving passengers of a South Korean ferry which sunk in April, killing 304 people, are due to give evidence in the trial of its captain and 14 crew members. Students from the Danwon High School in Ansan, 18 miles south of Seoul, will testify with other passengers in a smaller court nearer to their home, rather than the one where the defendants are being seen in Gwangju, in the south of the country. The Sewol ferry set sail on 16 April with 476 passengers and crew on board - more than 300 of which were schoolchildren. They were enroute from the mainland to the island resort of Jeju as part of a school trip, when nearing the end of the journey, the vessel, which was overloaded, also made a sharp turn to the right causing it to capsize. Captain Lee Joon-seok, 68, was caught on rescue footage being one of the first to leave the ship, while many passengers, obeying orders, remained in the cabins. It is thought a delayed evacuation order from the captain did n...

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

New Mississippi billboard warns criminals: ‘Firing squad is legal’

DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. (WREG) — A billboard standing on Interstate 55 southbound as you cross the Tennessee state line and enter Mississippi from Memphis is sending a grim message to those coming into the state. DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton recently announced the new billboard campaign, which features the sign reading, “WELCOME TO MISSISSIPPI. WHERE THE FIRING SQUAD IS LEGAL. THINK TWICE.” It references Mississippi’s law permitting execution by firing squad under certain circumstances for inmates sentenced to death. Barton says this campaign is aimed at deterring violent crime and sends a direct message to criminals entering Mississippi.

Arizona | Man who murdered pastor crucifixion style requests plea deal after parents killed in plane crash

Adam Sheafe, the California man who admitted to killing a New River, Arizona, pastor in a crucifixion-style attack, has asked prosecutors to offer him a plea deal that would result in a natural life sentence rather than the death penalty he had previously sought. Advisory council attorneys representing Sheafe sent a formal plea offer to prosecutors this week, about two weeks after his father and stepmother died in a plane crash at Marana Airport on April 8, according to 12 News. Sheafe, 51, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of William Schonemann, 76, pastor of New River Bible Church, who was found dead inside his home last April.

Idaho eyes restart of death row executions as firing squad draws near

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho’s prison system has nearly completed execution chamber upgrades to carry out the death penalty by firing squad as the state’s lead method and will have a team of riflemen ready to go by the time a state law takes effect this summer. As part of the transition, the Idaho Department of Correction hopes to limit participation by its officers as the shooting of condemned people in prison to death is prioritized over lethal injection. Toward that effort, prisoner leadership sought to implement a push-button technology to avoid needing IDOC workers to pull the triggers.

South Dakota | Latest appeal from state's lone death row inmate denied

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit has rejected the latest appeal from Briley Piper, the only person on death row in South Dakota. In March 2000, Briley Piper, along with co-defendants Elijah Page and Darrell Hoadley, conspired to burglarize the Lawrence County home of 19-year-old Chester Poage before abducting and murdering him by beating, stabbing, and stoning in a remote area. Piper was subsequently arrested, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death, while his accomplices received either a death sentence—carried out against Page in 2007—or a sentence of life imprisonment without parole.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog