NCADP
1436
U Street,
NW
Suite 104
Washington
DC
20009
888-286-2237
[email protected]
Ignacio Ortiz (AZ)
Oct. 27, 1999…3pm (EST)
Arizona could execute a record number of people in 1999 if the execution of Ignacio Ortiz will be carried out on October 27. He was convicted of killing his former girlfriend Manuelita McCormack in 1978.
Once Ignacio was a responsible citizen and
a good father without prior criminal background. Now he has been on death
row for over 20 years. His petition for rehearing was denied without comment.
Coalition of Arizonians to Abolish the Death Penalty
Florida
Anthony Braden Bryan (FL)
Oct.27, 1999
In spite of the international revulsion sparked
by July’s grisly execution of Allen Davis , Jeb Bush insists that the state’s
barely functional electric chair must
continue to usher Florida’s death row prisoners
into the hereafter.
Hence Anthony Bryan, who has been awaiting the
flesh melting embrace of
Old Sparky for over 13 years for a murder committed
while he was a fugitive wanted for robbing a bank. While fleeing
Florida by way of the Gulf of Mexico, Bryan put in for repairs to a damaged
boat at Pascagoula, Miss., and borrowed tools from an elderly night watchman.
Unable to fix the boat, Bryan committed a crime of desperation, stealing
the watchman’s wallet and car. Apparently fearing that the victim,
George Wilson, would report the crime and tip police to his whereabouts,
he kidnapped him in the trunk of his car, and several hours later executed
him near a remote creek.
After authorities caught up with the two, Bryan’s cohort, Sharon Cooper, revealed the murder. While Bryan was sentenced to die in the electric chair, Cooper received only a one-year sentence.
Bryan is arguing diminished capacity in court, and claims that his trial counsel failed to adequately develop this issue. Courts have been skeptical of this point, even going so far as to suggest that Bryan may have made a calculated effort to fake mental incompetence at the time of his pre-trial examinations.
However, it is undisputed that Bryan had a good employment history as a shrimp boat captain, and was by and large a law-abiding citizen. Although the state presented six aggravating factors for the offense, five of the twelve jurors still voted to spare Bryan’s life.
And what is becoming increasingly clear with each
botched electrocution is this: that anyone sent to Florida’s electric
chair will suffer a death that is both “cold, calculated and premeditated”
and “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.”
North Carolina
Arthur Boyd (NC)
October 21, 1999…2:00am (EST)
He loved her. But, because she wanted to leave him Arthur Boyd of North
Carolina stabbed his girlfriend Wanda Hartmann on August 7th, 1982.
Knowing that she was sleeping with another man, Arthur was drinking
and drugging heavily the day it happened.
She was the only loved one he had. Arthur had no real friends. His father left him when he was a child and his grandfather, who served as his primary guardian, died shortly thereafter.
Dr. Humphrey, a sociologist with a concentration on criminology from the University of New Hampshire, interviewed Arthur Boyd and determined that he fit the profile of an individual who suffered significant losses and had become depressed to the point of acting in a self-destructive manner: “They destroy that which they fear losing most.”
(Editors Note: The Supreme Court of North Carolina did not accepted
Humphrey’s testimony as mitigating evidence.)
Joseph Timothy Keel (NC)
October 29, 1999…2:00am (EST)
Joseph Timothy Keel was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of John Simmons, his father-in-law. According to trial testimony Joseph and Simmons were engaged in an on-going argument about their wives. During one of these arguments, Joseph, who was doped up on alcohol and cocaine at the time, shot Simmons twice, killing him.
The jury which convicted Joseph found eight mitigating factors in his case. Two separate doctors, a psychiatrist and a neuro- psychologist, found that Joseph had a “borderline personality disorder”, a history of alcohol abuse, suicidal tendencies, and “organic personality syndrome”. Furthermore, Joseph’s I.Q. is 78, placing him somewhere between below average intelligence and mental retardation. He functions at an intellectual level that is lower than 93% of the population.
Despite these problems, Joseph has shown himself capable of being very
generous and kind. While in prison for a previous offense, Joseph
organized functions to raise money for the prison and to benefit charities
within his community. He also participated in a prisoner wood drive,
during which inmates would collect and chop wood for those who could not
afford or gather their own firewood.
Richard Johnson (SC)
Oct.21, 1999…6:00pm (EST)
In 1986 Richard Johnson was sentenced to life in prison for a double murder he was accused of one year before. Together with two other man he was involved in the killing of Daniel Swansen and patrol trooper Bruce Smalls. But the conviction was overturned. A new trial took place and finally Richard Johnson was sentenced to death.
Richard and his two accomplices, Connie Hess and Curtis Harbert, were
drinking heavily on September 26, 1985. But only one of them later had
to take the burden for what happened during this day. The others received
immunity from prosecution in exchange for their testimony against Richard
Johnson.
Alvin Crane (TX)
October 12, 1999…7:00pm (EST)
Alvin Crane was sentenced to death by the state of Texas for killing Chief Deputy Sheriff Delvin Drum on March 28, 1987.
Killing a Sheriff is a crime which normally trumps nearly every mitigating factor a defendant can present and often results in a death sentence. But Alvin Crane’s attorney did not even try to present mitigating factors. He investigated neither the family background nor the mental deficiency of his client. A fact that shows once more that legal assistance for many death row candidates is insufficient.
In 1981, Alvin was injured on his head after a motorcycle accident.
This incident could have resulted in some mental disability that interfered
with Alvin’s abilities to act intentionally and deliberately. But this
was never examined by his lawyer.
Jerry McFadden (TX)
October 14, 1999…7:00pm (EST)
The jury took just 35 minutes to decide that Jerry McFadden should die by lethal injection for the May 1986 strangulation of Suzannne Harrison.
There is very little information available about Jerry’s case and background. Legal documents reveal that he spent only seven years in school and worked as a telephone cable installer. He is also a suspect in two others murders.
If executed, Jerry will be survived by his daughter Rhonda. She
testified at trial that she loved her father and asked the jurors not give
him the death penalty.
Domingo Cantu (TX)
October 28, 1999…7:00pm (EST)
Domingo Cantu Jr. is part of a generation of death row prisoners seeking DNA testing to prove their innocence – and being bitterly resisted by the state.
Cantu, a Native American, was tried by a jury consisting of ten white
men, one black man, and one white woman. He was sentenced to death
in 1988 for the sexual assault and bludgeoning death of a 94-year-old Dallas
woman.
Although he had no record of violent crime on his rather lengthy juvenile
rap sheet, Texas’ notorious “Dr. Death”, James Grigson, vouched for his
“anti-social” tendencies at trial.
Although Cantu, then an illiterate and drug-addled 20-year-old, signed
two confessions shortly after his arrest, he has steadfastly maintained
his innocence during his years on death row. He claims he spent the
night before the crime drinking with two friends, was dropped off, and
was on his way to meet his brother-in-law when he was arrested minutes
after the murder. He claims that detectives lied to him about the
contents of the confessions he signed.
Physical evidence linking Cantu to the crime is ambiguous at best, and
Cantu claims that exculpatory witness testimony, most especially from his
brother-in-law, was ignored at trial by an unqualified public defender.
But what he is seeking now is nothing more than access to DNA
testing which could establish his guilt or innocence.
More details on Cantu’s case are available at his web page: <http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/ccadp/cantu-synopsis.htm>
Joseph Parsons (UT)
October 15, 1999…2:01am (EST)
Joseph Parsons has given up all appeals. Convicted of stabbing Richard Ernest in 1987 he prefers to die rather than to live in prison.
Playing basketball for one hour and eating some french fries are the last wishes of a man who sees no reason to go on. He refused to meet with a clergyman and will not allow family members to witness his execution.
Growing up in New York City and Florida, Joseph Parsons had a rough childhood. At an early age he was diagnosed with a personality disorder and began committing petty crimes. At 17 years old he left home on a stolen motorcycle. Two years later he was sent to prison for robbing a cab driver in Las Vegas.
During his murder trial, Joseph’s attorney failed to conduct an adequate
investigation. Joseph was sentenced to death despite the fact that
one of the jurors was suspected of having improper contact with a prosecution
witness.
“I am sorry for taking his life. I just wish I could turn the clock
back”, said Joseph in a show of remorse. But the clock ticks on, and activists
in Utah are preparing for their first execution vigil since 1996.
Virginia
Jason Joseph (VA)
October 19, 1999…9:00pm (EST)
He was only 20 years old when it happened. Jason Joseph was unemployed and on drugs on the 26th of October 1992. To maintain his high, he took part in a robbery during which Jeffrey Anderson was shot. Subsequently, Jason was charged with murder and sentenced to death by the state of Virginia.
Jason Joseph’s childhood was marked by intolerable living conditions and domestic violence. His father left him when he was only three years old. Often alone, the child was constantly deprived of food and the most basic medical treatment.
Jason who has a paranoid schizophrenic half brother with homicidal tendencies and a sister with petit mal brain seizures also showed forms of brain damage. According to Dr. Andrew Billups, a clinical psychologist, the absence of a father figure in Joseph’s life and the lack of “emotional nurturance” with other people left him with “a sense of emptiness” which caused him to be “a risk for making unfortunate choices in an effort to fill that emptiness”.
Unfortunately, Joseph’s trial attorney did not delve into his client’s
mental and social history. These mitigating factors were never presented
to the jury and Jason received the death penalty.
Michael Williams (VA)
October 28, 1999…9:00pm (EST)
On the 27th of February, 1993, Morris C. Keller and his wife Mary Elisabeth Keller were killed during a robbery. Some days later Michael Williams was arrested for the crime. Despite the presence of mitigating factors he was sentenced to death one year later.
According to the Supreme Court of Virginia, Michael Williams suffered from a childhood mental disorder known as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (A.D.H.D.), which adversely affected him in school and limited his ability to function in society as he matured.
At trial, psychologists testified that persons suffering from A.D.H.D. are likely to be involved in substance abuse and engage in impulsive and sometimes illegal behavior.
In Michael’s case the effects of his disorder were exacerbated by his
unstable home life and a sexual assault by an older man when he was 14
years old. His mother divorced his father shortly before he was born and
married an alcoholic, but this marriage also failed. Having no family support,
Michael’s disorder more and more led him into conflict with the law and
finally to Virginia’s death row.
