26th Jun 2009
Mobile Press Register June 25, 2009
Adam Liptak’s June 8 story in The New York Times, “Death penalty case reveals the blemishes in Alabama’s courts,” hit the nail on the head. But our attorney general and governor refuse to even acknowledge that there is a problem.
The American Bar Association study on the death penalty in Alabama (Oct. 29, 2007) found that it was fatally flawed, but Attorney General Troy King says he has not studied the report. Gov. Bob Riley says the death penalty is the law and he wants to uphold the law.
They both scoff at the obvious bias, arbitrariness and frank racism that exist in the death penalty’s administration, and will not release the cost data.
King also refused my invitation to a public debate on the issue. His office said, “The attorney general does not ‘apply’ the death penalty,” and the Department of Corrections is the one that carries it out.”
This is a rather trite, dismissive and misleading response.
ROBERT A. BALDWIN, M.D.
Birmingham
Editor’s note: The writer is author of the book, “Life and Death Matters: Seeking the Truth about Capital Punishment.”
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20th Jun 2009
Dear Friends,
Never give up hope-never stop your good work to try and end the cold-blooded killings, for that is the definition of the death penalty.
We came close to ending the death penalty in my state of Connecticut…but our Governor Jodi Rell, said no with her veto. And so the nine men on death row will stay there and as we work again and endlessly to stop the killings.
Your sister, Toni Bosco
Mother of murder vicitims
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12th Jun 2009
This time I had no hope at all..but I am sad all the same for every one; I mean it is a failure for the State, for the victims’ families, Jack’s family, for us and so much useless suffering and hatred!
I have left a message in The Birmingham News…7 hours after Jack’s execution, it is probably not very useful because it seems as if people write just after the execution…still! I had written something about Willie as well but long after May 14th.
Here is the text of my message:
Posted by jlouisrochard on 06/12/09 at 12:46AM
As usual a lot of heinous comments after Jack Trawick’s execution as there were on May 14th when Willie McNair was killed by the State of Alabama.
When will every one included Governor Bob Riley understand that killing killers is adding murders to murders, suffering to suffering?
Justice is not REVENGE! There are other ways to protect the society than KILLING!
Alabama, in its recent history, has been on the foreground of social progress. It is time that it moves on and reviews its stand on capital punishment. It belongs to another era and sadly other countries.
Do I forget the victims and their relatives? Of course not and I keep praying for them as well as for the murderers and their relatives: ALL of them are Human Beings, are CHILDREN of GOD!
jean-louis rochard (balo85@wanadoo.fr) member of Action of Christians for the Abolition of Torture and Death Penalty (ACAT-France)
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10th Jun 2009
Dear Governor Riley,
Tomorrow, June 11, 2009, I will once again be a conspirator in and a witness to an act of premeditated murder. Tomorrow, on behalf of, and by the citizens of Alabama, Jack Trawick will be killed. Is his murder manslaughter? No. Is his murder murder in the second degree? No. Is his murder premeditated murder? Yes.
I respectfully request that you make murder by state-sanctioned execution an act that can be put in Alabama’s past. Will I feel safer? No. Will I feel proud of the laws of our state? No. Will the murder of Jack Trawick equate to the long ago adages of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life? Yes. Will the murder of Jack Trawick bring his victim back to the land of the living? No.
As you go on your around the world trip to interest international corporations in relocating and/or expanding into Alabama will you brag to them the way we Alabamians conspire to acts of premeditated murder? I imagine not.
You have the power to end this barbaric solution to societal problems. Please do so.
Sincerely, John Sims Jeter
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10th Jun 2009
Dear Gov. Riley,
Yet again I write you, urging you stay the execution of an Alabamian; this time it is Jack Trawick, scheduled to be killed by the State, in actuality, “we the people,” on June 11.
We agree that murder is an atrocity to be decried; but to me murder by the state must also be denounced and stopped. We citizens of the state do not have the moral authority to pronounce the final judgment of death on another human being.
But aside from the moral consideration of the issue and various legal concerns I’ve mentioned in previous messages, I urge you to seriously consider the Gadsden Times editorial of June 2 in which they cite the extraordinary cost of the death penalty. For that reason alone they urge executions be stopped until the legislature considers whether they should be banned.
You as governor have the power to stay executions and commute sentences; in this instance I urge a commutation to life imprisonment.
And again I beseech you to implement a moratorium on executions in this state which has been sending more people to death row than any other state. You, Gov. Riley, can help reform government in Alabama and lead us toward a system of justice which would be heralded by people throughout the U.S. and the world.
If we’re talking finances, I think such a move would attract many more businesses and make Alabama beautiful in a shining new way.
Sincerely, Judy Collins
Alabama New South Coalition Chair for Peace, Justice, Human Rights & Environment
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2nd Jun 2009
Dear Governor Riley,
I am writing to ask you to stop the execution of Jack Trawick which is now scheduled to be carried out on June 11, 2009.
As a United Methodist minister I am opposed to capital punishment on moral grounds. The highest ideals of the Christian faith call for love and forgiveness not retribution and execution. However, I am also opposed to capital punishment because there are many problems with the way the State of Alabama applies capital punishment.
I am concerned that our system is racially biased against African-Americans, that it is incredibly costly in a poor state, that the legal representation that defendants get is inadequate, and that we allow judicial override when at the same time judges must stand for election. These factors add up to a system that is flawed from the beginning.
For these and other reasons it is time for the State of Alabama to get out of the execution business. As a first step toward the goal of abolishing capital punishment in Alabama I hope that you will spare Mr. Trawick’s life. You have it within your power. You are legally authorized to do it. I hope and pray that you will.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely Yours,
The Reverend Tom Duley
No Comments
27th May 2009
May 27, 2009
The Honorable Governor Bob Riley
State Capitol
600 Dexter Ave
Montgomery, AL 36130-2751
Dear Governor Riley,
I am writing to ask you to stop the execution of Jack Trawick, scheduled to be carried out on June 11, 2009.
In the end, it is not whether someone deserves to die, but whether we deserve to kill. The answer is surely no and the question comes to mind, why do we kill people to show people that killing is wrong?
Please, Governor Riley, institute a moratorium on all executions!
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely yours,
Esther Brown
Lanett, AL
No Comments
17th May 2009
Dear Friends, I share with you my tears for the death once more of a good man and a friend. Ironically, on the day Willie was murdered, here in my state of Connecticut, the House of Representatives voted to repeal the death penalty. We have 10 men on death row. Now we much work harder than ever to get the Senate to do the same, and to get our Governor Jodi Rell, adamently for the death penalty, to reverse her position. Our work goes on, but we will, I believe, prevail! Your sister, Toni Bosco, mother of murder victims, who yet abhors the death penalty.
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13th May 2009
From Our Savior: life and death
News item noticed on the Internet Explorer home page this morning: “Pope gunman wants to convert to Christianity”:
In comments relayed by his lawyer on Wednesday, Mehmet Ali Agca also says he wants to visit the grave of Pope John Paul II, meet with Pope Benedict XVI and produce a television documentary on the Vatican.
By any measure, Mehmet Ali Agca is not a “nice” man. His time in jail for the shooting of Pope John Paul II being finished, he is now in a Turkish jail serving a sentence for killing another man. He is due to be released this coming January.
Is he sincere in his desire to become a Catholic, to repent of the violence in his life, to surrender himself to God? I cannot think that anyone has the right to assume anything other than a YES to this question. After all, within the context of the Catholic Church, there are precedents.
12-year-old Maria Goretti was stabbed to death rather than submit to an attempted rape by an 18-year-old farm-hand, Alessandro. She forgave him on her death bed, and he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. A dream in which he saw Maria changed this man; he was released from prison early because of his changed behavior, he went to beg Maria’s Mother’s forgiveness, and he was present when Maria was beatified and still living the life of a penitent when she was canonized.
We cannot and should not put limits on the possibility of change, nor should we take away the opportunity for self-examination and true repentance. If Mehmet and Alessandro were sentenced to death, Mehmet might not (and Alessandro could not) be changed…
Prisons can be places of growth as well as places of punishment (after all, the word “penitentiary” originally meant a place—like a monastery—for doing repenting and doing penance). We need not take away either the need for criminals to face themselves and their crimes, nor the possibility of their authentically asking forgiveness. Maria Goretti’s Mother, when met by Alessandro, said, “If my daughter can forgive him, how can I not?” We know famously, as well, of the visit of Pope John Paul to Regina Caeli Prison after his recovery, to speak with Mehmet and forgive him.
If we cannot forgive and reconcile, there will never be peace in our hearts or in our country or in our world. Executions simply solve nothing.
And interestingly enough, today is the 28th anniversary of attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II.
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12th May 2009
Dear Esther and friends
Thank you so very much for your email updates. I have been praying and will carry on tomorrow for Willie McNair. I have sent an email to the governor saying how wrong it is to carry out this murder. I also tried to explain that surely it is wrong for a judge to go against a jury. As I live in Cornwall, it probably wont make much difference so I am going to write a letter to your president Barrack Obama to ask him to change the law so no judge can ignore a jury and do just as he wants to in a case. I appreciate the hard work that you do with such determination. I Will be thinking of you tomorrow in yet another sad unlawful act. My prayers are with you all. If there is anything at all that I can do, no matter how small, please feel free to ask
Love and Eternal Light
Andrew
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