STORY TIP: Number 200 to be executed under Perry! /AMNESTY Release (PRESS CONTACTS)

PRESS CONTACTS HERE: Number 200 to be executed under Perry! /AMNESTY Release

Of Special PRESS interest (please distribute this information widely to select newspapers and contacts!)

In Dallas, members of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP) will gather TODAY June 2, 2009 at 10:00 AM in front of the Frank Crowley Courts Building, 133 North Industrial Blvd. 75207 for a press conference about the 200th execution during the Perry Administration. Speakers include: Stanley Allridge, whose brother James Allridge III was executed in 2004; Reverend Carroll Pickett, the former death house chaplain at the Walls Unit in Huntsville who accompanied 95 men to their executions; and Dr. Rick Halperin, the Director of the SMU Human Rights Education Program and TCADP Board member. Contact Rick Halperin for more information at 214-768-3284. Also for Amnesty, Contact: Wende Gozan at 212-633-4247, wgozan@aiusa.org, or Brian Evans at 202-544-0200 x496, bevans@aiusa.org.

Michael Landauer/Editor Dallas News

The Texas Moratorium Network is protesting a milestone execution today, as Diane Jennings has reported over on the crime blog. But that sheer number just amazes me. Think of the context of that.

Texas has executed 438 people since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. On Rick Perry's watch alone, Texas has executed more people than the next three states combined since 1976.

Some more context: Before 1995, Texas killed 104 people. What happened in 1995? That's when the Court of Criminal Appeals went Republican, electing judges (including Sharon Keller) who promised to be pro-prosecutor and tough on crime. It has only been 27 years since the machinery of the Texas Death Row was restarted. For the first 18 years, we executed 238 people, or roughly 13 a year. SInce Perry has been in office, we're killing about 22 a year.

Comments
Posted by Kristin @ 2:37 PM Mon, Jun 01, 2009

Thanks, Michael, for this post. More facts and figures related to the 200th execution are available at here

In Dallas, members of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP) will gather on June 2, 2009 at 10:00 AM in front of the Frank Crowley Courts Building, 133 North Industrial Blvd. 75207 for a press conference about the 200th execution during the Perry Administration. Speakers include: Stanley Allridge, whose brother James Allridge III was executed in 2004; Reverend Carroll Pickett, the former death house chaplain at the Walls Unit in Huntsville who accompanied 95 men to their executions; and Dr. Rick Halperin, the Director of the SMU Human Rights Education Program and TCADP Board member. Contact Rick Halperin for more information at 214-768-3284. Also for Amnesty, Contact: Wende Gozan at 212-633-4247, wgozan@aiusa.org, or Brian Evans at 202-544-0200 x496, bevans@aiusa.org.
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Amnesty International USA Press Statement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, May 29, 2009
AS 200TH EXECUTION NEARS UNDER TEXAS GOVERNOR PERRY, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DECRIES 'SHAMEFUL MILESTONE'

Largest Number of Executions Under One Governor in Modern Times -- Despite Racial Disparities, Inadequate Counsel, Possibility of Innocent Being Put to Death

Contact: Wende Gozan at 212-633-4247, wgozan@aiusa.org, or Brian Evans at 202-544-0200 x496, bevans@aiusa.org.

(Washington D.C.) – As Texas approaches its 200th execution under Governor Rick Perry, currently scheduled for June 2, Amnesty International USA Executive Director Larry Cox issued the following statement:

“This is a shameful milestone, one that proves Texas is more concerned with maintaining its rogue image than ensuring equality under the law. Two hundred executions – the largest under one governor in modern U.S. history – will have taken place in a system that is rife with error and is strongly believed to have put innocent people to death. Instead of slowing down its frantic pace, Texas continues to play Russian roulette with people’s lives, pursuing a path that is as shocking as it is unacceptable.

"Amnesty International’s recent report, Too Much Cruelty, Too Little Clemency, is a clear indicator of just how flawed Texas justice is. A number of executions that took place under Perry's governorship would now be considered illegal in the eyes of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Texas capital punishment system remains rigged from start to finish. From inadequate representation at trial to an appellate system that fast-tracks executions to a clemency process that might as well not exist, the Texas death penalty is built for speed, not accuracy or justice.

"By saying Texas 'by and large gets it right,' Gov. Perry proves that he is out of touch with the realities of capital punishment. His reported threat to gut a provision that would have limited executions to those who actually pull the trigger is the latest in a long line of missed opportunities to chart a new course. While his neighbor to the West has shown such leadership, Perry remains an anachronism stuck in the ‘90s, oblivious to the failings of the system that everyone else, including many Texans, seems to recognize."

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries who campaign for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

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