This Week in MADP August 28, 2010 This isn’t how it’s supposed to work. And that’s not going to be enough to stop it from happening. When
the United States Supreme Court ended the death penalty in 1972 and
then brought it back in 1976, the process for getting to a death
sentence was supposed to be different. It was supposed to take place
within a process of protections. Protections for the defendant? Yes, but
also protections for the nation’s constitution and the rights enshrined
in it. Protections of our identity as a free and just society. Roderick
Nunley is to be executed on October 20. He pleaded guilty. This is not a
matter of innocence. This is a matter of how the criminal justice
system is supposed to work. The facts of the crime are deafening and
concern for the victim’s family is appropriately enormous. Yet, the
questions of systematic failure in the criminal justice system's
handling of his case nag at our conscience and pull against what holds
us together as fellow citizens. This isn’t how it’s supposed to work.
And that’s not going to be enough to stop it from happening. Is it? This
past Thursday, the Kansas City MADP Chapter held an educational event
led by Mitigation Specialist Mary K Poirier. Telling the story of the
defendant in human terms provides mitigating evidence during the
sentencing trial of a death penalty case. This is just one of the
protections provided in the Gregg v. Georgia US Supreme Court
decision in 1976 that allowed the death penalty to be used again. Mary K
gave a clear and helpful description of the mitigation process and of
the role of a mitigation specialist. Thanks, Mary K. This
coming Monday, August 30, the Springfield MADP Chapter will hold their
annual potluck. Renee Boman, our newly full-time State Field Director,
and I will meet with the chapter as they look at this past year’s
accomplishments and plan for next year’s work. For more information: http://madpmo.org/madpchapters/springfield.html Monday,
August 30, in St Louis, you can join Reggie Clemons’s birthday
celebration at the GYA Gallery, 2700 Locust, 6-8 pm. Local artists will
be there: Khalil the Poet; Aja LaStarr; El Thought; Ms. Interpretation;
Blue; Siphne Sylve; and Anthony Reed. For more information: http://www.justiceforreggie.com/
On
Wednesday, September 1, TC Parsons, MADP Eastern MO Field Organizer,
will be tabling at a volunteer fair at University of Missouri-Columbia
to recruit students as volunteers for MADP. Thanks, TC. Welcome Student
Volunteers. September
15 is Veto Session at the capital in Jefferson City. MADP is going to
provide a light lunch and some materials to say thank you to legislators
who have courageously stood with us in the past and to tell them about
our future efforts to change MO’s broken criminal justice system with
our eye on ending the death penalty one day in our state. We will
provide lawmakers with “Smart on Crime” materials. Want to see these
materials yourself? Download the report from our website: http://www.madpmo.org/ Last,
February, MO Supreme Court Chief Justice William Ray Price to
legislators “We need to move away from anger-based sentencing that
ignores cost and effectiveness to evidence-based sentencing that focuses
on results.”
ACTION REQUEST: In
September, during the next 30 days, take 10 minutes to call or email
your current state representative and senator to tell them that you are
concerned about what the death penalty is costing MO, not just in
dollars but in the moral costs of handing off an egregiously broken
justice system to the generations that follow us. We can do better. Let
me hear from you what you hear from them. Thanks. Take care. Donnie Morehouse
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This Week in MADP August 22, 2010
19/2162057/missouri-high-court-issues-execution.html. Painful
past and anxious future collide in this announcement. There is only
heartbreaking sadness for the family of the victim. And for all of the
other families involved. Twenty-one years of pain and loss punctuated by
court actions and news reports. MADP
works for the day when we will not have execution dates set in
Missouri. Or death sentences imposed. Or plea agreements worked out
under threats of death. This past week I had occasion to reflect on our
shared work and I was reminded that MADP is not simply an organ-ization
working to stop a misguided policy of the criminal justice system. We
are a movement with a goal of changing one important aspect of how we
live together. While there are many things in need of positive change
about how we live together as a society, MADP seeks to accomplish this
one: remove the ability for the state to exterminate a fellow human
being. From many different perspectives, we articulate together that
killing is not an answer or solution to any crime or societal ill.
Because
when in the dark, we tend to seek light, I choose this week to
celebrate the people across our state who volunteer their time and
energy to MADP’s movement. Month after month, Ann Johnson in Kansas
City, Rose Rita Huelsmann in St Louis, Jeff Stack in Columbia, and Donna
Walmsley in Springfield give many hours of effort to lead MADP chapters
in speaking up to neighbors and fellow citizens about the costs and
consequences of Missouri’s death penalty system. Thank you. For more
about what MADP chapters are doing, see our website: http://www.madpmo.org/madpchapters.html. Seventeen
MADP board members are giving many hours this summer to meetings,
conference calls and planning sessions to prepare for our work over the
next few years. Thank you. I think of many, many others, including
Heidi Moore, who keeps us updated and informed on Facebook and with
Twitter. Thanks, Heidi. If you want to be a “fan” of MADP on Facebook,
follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Missourians-for-Alternatives-to-the-Death-Penalty/269908037561?ref=mf Thank
you to every person and organization that steps up and speaks out about
real alternatives to Missouri’s death penalty system.
Take care.
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This Week in MADPAugust 8, 2010 Garden work in August involves just about as much planning work at a table in the evenings as it does out watering, weeding and harvesting in daylight hours. The planning is for, of course, next year's spring plantings. I'm drawing up plans to dig up my bulb bed and relocate the bulbs to a sunnier and showier site in the front yard. And I'm planning to build a raised bed for vegetables where the bulbs now reside in the backyard. The three overlapping and cyclical hands of accomplishment - planning, acting, evaluating, and then planning anew - that are central to enjoyable gardening are absolutely crucial to organizational development and creating social policy change. And so in these hot days of August, MADP staff and board are much involved in planning for 2011 - and for 2012 and 2013. Setting goals, activities, and timelines. Yet, at the same time, our work the push for repeal continues. On Thursday, the St Louis MADP Chapter held an educational event to help members grasp an important but obscure concept: proportionality review. David McNeil carefully walked us through the facts, consequences and risks of judicial and legislative actions regarding proportionality reviews. Thanks, David. David is willing to share his materials and I hope that other MADP chapters will use the information to inform their members. Next session, we will likely need MADP members who know this issue and are willing to contact their legislators effectively. MADP took a giant leap this past week toward building a powerful grassroots base across the state. The MADP board approved a proposal to move Renee Boman, who has been our half-time western MO Field Organizer, to a fulltime position as our State Field Director. Renee will coordinate MADP's statewide efforts to organize and educate Missourians about the cost and consequences of the death penalty. TC Parsons, our eastern MO Field Organizer, will assist Renee in eastern Missouri to provide a coordinated and integrated field program. MADP is fortunate and well served to have Renee and TC on our staff. This move represents a considerable shift in emphasis in how we will use our resources to build a powerful grassroots groundswell for repealing the death penalty in Missouri. Please share your congratulations and support with Renee at renee@madpmo.org. This next week Renee and I will be speaking to the Pachyderm Club of Greater Kansas City. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to spend some time with people with whom we share common concerns for public safety, effective criminal justice and fiscal accountability. We are wrapping up a large, important grant proposal this week. Our board committees will continue to meet, preparing for our board retreat in September and planning MADP's journey through the next couple of years. The plans we set this summer will find fertile soil in the months ahead and grow eventually, even though it may be a long struggle, into a transformed justice system that doesn't use death or the threat of death to find justice. Until then, MADP will continue to plan, act, evaluate and plan anew as we push for repeal in Missouri. Thanks for all of your work, support and donations of time, talent and treasure to this effort.
Take care. Donnie Morehouse
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'This Week in MADP
August 1, 2010
Dean Dankelson, president of the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, wrote an opinion piece for the KC Star, published this past Monday. http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/25/2105901/the-death-penalty-provides-justice.html. Mr Dankelson wrote that the death penalty is about justice and that justice is not driven by cost. He went to laud Missouri's criminal justice system as having safeguards to protect against the death penalty being used inappropriately. He cited, as proof of these safeguards, unbiased prosecutors, unbiased juries and unbiased judges. Let's say plainly that there are plenty unbiased folks in all three areas, it's the 139 exonerated from death row nationally - 3 in Missouri - that sticks up, putting lumps in his blanket statements. He wonders in print that if the death penalty is too expensive, then perhaps we should just stop prosecuting murder and rape all together.
Wow! Those are not great alternatives. There are some viable alternatives, though. Adequately fund Missouri's public defender system. Improve the protections against convicting the innocent. Reduce prosecutorial discretion. Put public funds into meaningful support services for murder victims' families. Support crime reduction strategies that can show effectiveness.
Fundamentally, I agree with Dean Dankelson's initial goal of holding all criminals accountable for their crimes, seeking justice and protecting the public. I also agree that achieving that goal will cost money. Where we disagree is on how it's spent. I contend for a fiscally conservative approach. Spend the money needed, and do so effectively. Many law enforcement officials say that the death penalty is not effective at fighting crime. Some politicians use it to appear tough on crime. That's not smart spending of the public treasury. Our state just cut almost $1
billion dollars from the budget, including education and health care. When Mr. Dankelson advocates for keeping the death penalty no matter the cost, is he calling for tax increases? Or more budget cuts?
MADP responded to Mr Dankelson's piece with a letter to the editor. So far, it has not been published. Philip Carderella responded with a letter to the editor and was published. Thanks, Phil. If you're willing to respond with letters to the editor and by other means when articles and opinion pieces show up, let me know or contact Renee Boman at Renee@madpmo.org. We can provide information and ideas. Also see our website to get further information about writing a letter to the editor. http://madpmo.org/actionsyoucantake.html
This Thursday, Aug. 5, the St Louis MADP Chapter is hosting an educational event on proportionality review. What in the world is that and why should we care? David McNeil, attorney, long-time MADP member and former board member, will tell us. 7 pm. Natural Bridge Branch, St Louis Library. For more information: http://madpmo.org/madpchapters/stlouis.html
Donnie Morehouse
Executive Director
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