Death Penalty
Siddique Abdullah Hasan co-founded Compassion newsletter to develop healing communication between capital punishment offenders and murdered victims’ families. The respected Sunni Muslim prison Imam was sentenced to death for his alleged leadership in the 1993 Lucasville prison rebellion. Hasan, who is on death row at Ohio’s supermax prison in Youngstown, is appealing the sentence. In the current interview, he discusses the potential move of Ohio's death row from Mansfield to Youngstown.
Sturm: How do you think the relocation of death row inmates is going to impact the situation for current prisoners?
Sturm: How do you think the relocation of death row inmates is going to impact the situation for current prisoners?
The following is excerpted from Staughton Lynd’s forthcoming book, LUCASVILLE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF A PRISON UPRISING (Temple University Press).
The State’s Version
According to prosecutors, the four men later convicted of the aggravated murder of Officer Robert Vallandingham – Jason Robb, Namir (a.k.a. James Were), George Skatzes, and Hasan (a.k.a. Carlos Sanders) – set in motion plans to kill one of the hostage guards. These plans were approved, so the juries were told, by a vote of gang leaders in attendance at a meeting between 8 and 9 a.m. on April 15, 1993.
The Ohio Supreme Court has endorsed this version of events in a summary of alleged facts preceding its opinion in State v. Robb.
The State’s Version
According to prosecutors, the four men later convicted of the aggravated murder of Officer Robert Vallandingham – Jason Robb, Namir (a.k.a. James Were), George Skatzes, and Hasan (a.k.a. Carlos Sanders) – set in motion plans to kill one of the hostage guards. These plans were approved, so the juries were told, by a vote of gang leaders in attendance at a meeting between 8 and 9 a.m. on April 15, 1993.
The Ohio Supreme Court has endorsed this version of events in a summary of alleged facts preceding its opinion in State v. Robb.
COLUMBUS — On the second anniversary of the execution of John Byrd by the State of Ohio, the Byrd family's civil attorney advised the Ohio attorney general's office that a previously threatened wrongful death suit would not be filed against the state.
"The family's interest is in getting the truth out, not in getting monetary compensation for their loss. Investigative journalism and media coverage are better ways for getting at the truth than more litigation would be," said Columbus attorney Cliff Arnebeck. "Exclusively focusing on getting to the truth will best serve the purposes of both proving John's innocence and correcting flaws in the criminal justice system. This is far more important to the family and to our society than fault-finding for the purpose of obtaining monetary compensation."
"Byrd's mother, Mary Ray, and sister, Kim Hamer, will be working with investigative journalists in this mission," Arnebeck said.
"The family's interest is in getting the truth out, not in getting monetary compensation for their loss. Investigative journalism and media coverage are better ways for getting at the truth than more litigation would be," said Columbus attorney Cliff Arnebeck. "Exclusively focusing on getting to the truth will best serve the purposes of both proving John's innocence and correcting flaws in the criminal justice system. This is far more important to the family and to our society than fault-finding for the purpose of obtaining monetary compensation."
"Byrd's mother, Mary Ray, and sister, Kim Hamer, will be working with investigative journalists in this mission," Arnebeck said.
Since Ohio starting executing people in 1999, there have been 8 lethal injections. Those killed include a suicidally depressed man who begged to be put to death, a mentally retarded man, and a man who was probably innocent. For each execution, the procedure looks similar: The inmate lies down on a table that looks like it belongs in an operating room. Intravenous needles are inserted into both arms. Three drugs are infused: sodium pentothal, which is supposed to render the "patient" unconscious, a drug that paralyzes all skeletal muscles (so breathing ceases), and finally potassium chloride, a chemical that arrests the heart. Lethal injection was designed to simulate a medical procedure, and it requires medical knowledge. Who is performing these executions?
written 19th February 2002
Today they killed a friend of mine
for a crime he didn’t do
John Byrd was an innocent man
and THAT they certainly knew!
The Ohio courts and Governor Taft
didn’t give a bloody damn
They gleefully sent John to his death
and killed an innocent man.
Why did they ignore the facts
and send John to his death?
Why did they ignore the truth
and steal my friend’s last breath?
Where was this so called justice
that American’s boastfully claim to possess?
Obviously it’s just another fallacy
American hypocrisy at it’s best
www.kennyrichey.org/
Today they killed a friend of mine
for a crime he didn’t do
John Byrd was an innocent man
and THAT they certainly knew!
The Ohio courts and Governor Taft
didn’t give a bloody damn
They gleefully sent John to his death
and killed an innocent man.
Why did they ignore the facts
and send John to his death?
Why did they ignore the truth
and steal my friend’s last breath?
Where was this so called justice
that American’s boastfully claim to possess?
Obviously it’s just another fallacy
American hypocrisy at it’s best
www.kennyrichey.org/
Columbus Dispatch editors are at it again. In a Sept. 10 headline, the Big D proclaimed “Hagan wouldn’t execute child killer.” Similar headlines have appeared in the past against other disfavored politicians, usually substituting words such as “Candidate X won’t execute cop killer.” Despite the sensational nature of the Hearst-style yellow journalism headline, the article by Alan Johnson is quite revealing. The second paragraph reads: “But if Timothy F. Hagan were governor, Buell’s life would be spared — along with those of the 204 others on Ohio’s Death Row.”
Johnson explains: “Hagan, the Democratic candidate for governor, is a lifelong opponent of capital punishment on personal and religious grounds.” Johnson writes, “If elected, Hagan vows to invoke a moratorium on executions, as the governors of Illinois and Maryland have done.”
Hagan told Johnson, “I don’t think the state should take the life of an indiv-idual.” Some suggestions for Dispatch headline writers: “Hagan wants Ohio to join European Union on human rights,” “Hagan says ‘Thou shalt not kill’,” and “Hagan wants moratorium on death penalty like Illinois and Maryland.” Or, see above.
Johnson explains: “Hagan, the Democratic candidate for governor, is a lifelong opponent of capital punishment on personal and religious grounds.” Johnson writes, “If elected, Hagan vows to invoke a moratorium on executions, as the governors of Illinois and Maryland have done.”
Hagan told Johnson, “I don’t think the state should take the life of an indiv-idual.” Some suggestions for Dispatch headline writers: “Hagan wants Ohio to join European Union on human rights,” “Hagan says ‘Thou shalt not kill’,” and “Hagan wants moratorium on death penalty like Illinois and Maryland.” Or, see above.
The state of Ohio killed Robert Buell on September 25. The mainstream mass media made sure that everyone knew that Buell was sentenced to death for the sexual assault and murder of 11-year-old Krista Harrison. During Buell’s eighteen years on death row, he was unsuccessful, with few exceptions, in getting out the facts of his case.
In January 1995, the Columbus Free Press uncovered a State Highway Patrol report authored by Marc Rogols documenting that investigators from the Ohio Public Defender’s Office (OPDO) were falsifying records on a fifteen or so death row inmates. Chester “Briss” Craig, a former supervisor at the OPDO, told the Free Press that Buell had probably been denied a proper investigation of his claims of innocence. Buell maintained that he did not kill Harrison.
In January 1992, Craig filed a complaint with the Ohio Inspector General’s Office that said: “Some of our investigators previously assigned to Ohio Public Defender’s clients before they were convicted had not met with or conducted any kind of investigation on behalf of these clients.”
In January 1995, the Columbus Free Press uncovered a State Highway Patrol report authored by Marc Rogols documenting that investigators from the Ohio Public Defender’s Office (OPDO) were falsifying records on a fifteen or so death row inmates. Chester “Briss” Craig, a former supervisor at the OPDO, told the Free Press that Buell had probably been denied a proper investigation of his claims of innocence. Buell maintained that he did not kill Harrison.
In January 1992, Craig filed a complaint with the Ohio Inspector General’s Office that said: “Some of our investigators previously assigned to Ohio Public Defender’s clients before they were convicted had not met with or conducted any kind of investigation on behalf of these clients.”
With the recent spat of executions it becomes clear that the politicians responsible for these horrendous acts are desperate to fabricate myths, half truths and downright lies to support their poisonous position. Here are some current myths about the death penalty presently being foisted upon the citizenry by self-serving merchants of death.
Pennsylvania Abolitionists United Against the Death Penalty issued a demand to Abbott Laboratories that they immediately stop selling Sodium Thiopental for use in lethal injection -- one of three chemicals utilized to kill human beings. As a pharmaceutical company, part of the health care industry and committed to preserving life, it is hypocritical and unethical for Abbott Laboratories to continue to sell Sodium Thiopental to those who they know are using it in a procedure that results in death; such usage, in fact, violates the purpose for which Sodium Thiopental was granted U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. In a certified letter to Abbott’s CEO, Miles D. Whie, dated August 2nd, Pa. Abolitionists stated that there would be serious consequences for failure to comply with this reasonable demand:
”If you have not agreed to end the sale of Sodium Thiopental by August 10, 2001, we intend to take nonviolent direct action to expose the unethical business activities of Abbott Laboratories. We are firm in our demand that you must stop aiding the murder of human beings.”
”If you have not agreed to end the sale of Sodium Thiopental by August 10, 2001, we intend to take nonviolent direct action to expose the unethical business activities of Abbott Laboratories. We are firm in our demand that you must stop aiding the murder of human beings.”
Breaking news in the death penalty case of Mumia Abu Jamal, convicted of killing a police officer -- another man has confessed to the murder. The confession appears in the affidavit below.
Presented at May 4, 2001 Philadelphia Press Conference by Mumia Abu-Jamal’s new lawyers, Marlene Kamish and Eliot Lee Grossman:
AFFIDAVIT OF ARNOLD BEVERY
I, ARNOLD R. BEVERLY, state that the following facts are true and correct: I was present when police officer Daniel Faulkner was shot and killed in the early morning hours of December 9, 1981 near the corner of Locust and 13th Streets. I have personal knowledge that Mumia Abu-Jamal did not shoot police officer Faulkner.
I was hired, along with another guy, and paid to shoot and kill Faulkner. I had heard that Faulkner was a problem for the mob and corrupt policemen because he interfered with the graft and payoffs made to allow illegal activity including prostitution, gambling, drugs without prosecution in the center city area. Faulkner was shot in the back and then in the face before Jamal came on the scene. Jamal had nothing to do with the shooting.