Willingham - Executed & Innocent?
There's been an interesting twist in the Willingham case as both sides of the debate become even more entrenched. The new chairman who was appointed by Gov. Perry has indefinitely postponed the review of Dr. Beyler's report on the fire forensics used at trial. It seems that the new chairman, John Bradley, a close colleague of Perry and a prominent conservative has been assigned to either shut down the review or make a finding that is favourable to the Governor. Bradley's words, as pointed out in the blog entry, even wreek of foul intention, "It is my experience that leadership is best applied to moving forward rather than looking back". Does this imply that he is planning to ignore the Willingham case and look only to the future of reforming archaic fire science? It's hard to say for sure but if this review doesn't take place before Gubernatorial election coming up next year in Texas then I think it speaks for itself.
It's tragic that a claim of innocence has been boiled down to pure politics. It reflects terribly on the death penalty in Texas and has done tremendous damage to public confidence. Perry has come out of this little foray looking like a dissembling weasel.
It's also worth mentioning that there has been alot of criticism of Beyler. The fact that he used Willingham's statements to police even though his statement was contradicted by the findings after the fire. There's certainly alot of misinformation flying about from both sides. There are Willingham sympathisers who claim that Beyler's report rejects arson as the cause of the fire. However, the report wasn't able to categorically count out that it was arson, however it was unable to prove that it was arson. As far as a legal standard goes, this is enough to create reasonable doubt.
On appeal after conviction it's not necessary to prove innocence beyond reasonable doubt, merely to show that a reasonable jury, properly instructed, considering the new evidence could not find the defendant guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
Is it possible to find a man guilty of arson without having ironclad proof that the fire was deliberately lit? Perhaps with exceptionally pursuasive circumstantial evidence. In this case, however, all we are looking at is evidence of inconsistent statements by Willingham, witness statements that claim he was acting strangely outside the fire (many of which were later recanted) and a psychologists report that claims he is a sociopath because he listens to Iron Maiden, has their posters on his wall and has violent tattoos.
Satisfactory? Not on your life.
What's going to happen next? It's impossible to say but I'll be sure to update as soon as there has been any kind of developments.
Japan Death Row in Tatters
After Amnesty International released a report stating that death row inmates in Japan were languishing in isolated and inhumane conditions and that they had were suffering from terrible psychological illness due to the stress of their present conditions and the uncertainty of their future. The report also condemned the secrecy surrounding the system which executed 15 inmates last year, the highest in three decades. The report coincided with the appointment of a new justice minister Keiko Chiba, an outspoken death penalty critic and member of the Parliamentary League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty. Without directly stating she would not sign death warrants, it seems quite clear that there will now be an effective halt to executions.
This, however, is no consolation to the 102 left lingering on death row with even more uncertainty as to their fate. Hopefully Chiba can put into action a process for the abolition of the death penalty but seeing as 80% of the population of Japan support it, this would be a hard fight. Perhaps simply removing the veil of secrecy from the system would open the eyes of many Japanese to the injustices that are occuring.
Melbourne Rally Against Death Penalty
On 10 October 2009, the seventh World Day Against the Death Penalty, Melbournians marched against the barbaric practice of state sanctioned killings all around the world. Speaking to the rally was Melbourne lawyer Julian McMahon who worked alongside Lex Lasry in support of Van Nguyen and who is the lawyer for Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, convicted drug traffickers who are on death row in bali. It's great to see Julian still campaigning so stalwartly fighting the good fight. Having assisted Julian on both Van and the Bali 9 cases I know how tirelessly he works and how committed he is to the cause.
I wish I could have been there for the march but I'll just have to wait for lucky number eight!
"Execution is premeditated, ritualised, state-sanctioned violence by brutalised societies. There is no crime no matter how terrible that could not be properly punished by decades in a cell."
Herald Sun Readers: Bring Back DP After Man Escapes Gallows and Murders Again
So the Herald Sun conducted a poll in early October asking whether or not Victoria should bring back the death penalty. To be honest, the issue is moot as the Australian government has an international obligation since ratifying the 2nd Optional Protocol to not only seek the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, but to put in place laws that will block the death penalty from every returning, no matter what government is in power.
The result was no surprise. Almost 80% supported the death penalty being reintroduced, and this can be explained by the context in which the poll was taken.
In 1968 Leigh Robinson was sentenced to death by hanging in Victoria for the stabbing murder of his ex-girlfriend, Valerie Dunn in her home in Chadstone. Upon the abolition of the death penalty in Victoria his sentence was commuted to the 20 year maximum that murder carries. He was then paroled and released only to murder again. Tracey Greenbury was his second victim and he has now been convicted of the crime and sentenced.
This guy is a real piece of work. During his cross examination he called the victim a "silly bitch" and said that he was just trying to help her up some steps when she slipped and his shotgun offloaded into her head accidently. Here's part of his testimony before the court:
"She started to fall and stumble and I went to grab her and all of a sudden, yeah, and that's why I'm standing here... One hell of a friggin' bang … [and I] packed me dacks and turned around and left."I've said it before. I think that preventing recidivism is one of the most perverse reasons for supporting the death penalty. Killing someone for a perceived future crime they may or may not commit is not only foolishly misguided but also a complete rejection of the principles of the justice system, and that is reformation. Losing complete faith in the human spirit is the first step towards becoming incredibly cruel and unforgiving towards those in society who are most in need of serious help and understanding. We need to work out how the system failed both Robinson and Tracey Greenbury rather than wishing we had just killed him to begin with. As I have said before, this Stalinesque approach of "no man, no problem" is totally inhuman.
