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May 16, 2013, 11:38:21 AM5/16/13
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Tallahassee Democrat - Speed vs. justice
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HuffPost - Melendez: Protect the Innocent: Florida's Governor Must Veto the 'Timely Justice Act'
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AP - Ex-death row inmates: Veto Timely Justice Act
Salon - Florida law would speed up executions
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http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20130516/OPINION01/305160024/Our-Opinion-Speed-vs-justice
May 16, 2013 | Tallahassee Democrat Editorial
Our Opinion: Speed vs. justice
Be cautious in accelerating executions
Just about the time that many Florida voters again grow tired of the endless appeals and delayed executions of those on Florida’s Death Row, along comes somebody like Clemente Javier “Shorty” Aguirre.
The Legislature passed House Bill 7083, known as the Timely Justice Act, this session in part to speed up the process that leads to an execution. There is no denying that the process can be a long one.
Consider Elmer Leon Carroll, who now is scheduled to be executed May 29 for raping and stabbing to death a 10-year-old girl in Orange County. The killing took place in October 1990; if Mr. Carroll is indeed executed, it will have taken nearly 23 years.
“When someone sits on death row for 10, 20, 30 years, it really makes a mockery of our justice system,” said state Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Orange Park, during debate on the bill. “It’s not fair to the victims’ families not only to be traumatized by the loss of a loved one, but then have to sit and suffer while justice is not realized year after year after year.”
A key part of the bill requires that the governor issue a death warrant within 30 days of being notified that an appeals process is completed and that the sentence be carried out within 180 days. Making that work could be a problem, because the Florida Constitution still grants clemency powers to the governor. But there are bigger problems. Consider “Shorty” Aguirre.
Mr. Aguirre is on Death Row, after being convicted in the 2004 killings of a 47-year-old woman and her paralyzed mother. Their blood was found on his clothing, and it seemed to be an open-and-shut case. But now Mr. Aguirre has a new legal team, including help from the Innocence Project, and new DNA tests may point the finger of blame at the 47-year-old’s daughter, who has a history of mental illness.
Since 1973, Florida has seen 24 people exonerated after being on Death Row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The Florida Bar has adopted a resolution asking the state to initiate a review of the state’s death penalty process.
General debate about the death penalty can wait for another day. But the state must never execute an innocent person.
Speeding up justice is a laudable goal. Speeding up a malfunctioning justice system might not be.
/ / / / /
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/juan-melendez/florida-timely-justice-act_b_3285154.html
May 16, 2013 | Huffington Post
Protect the Innocent: Florida's Governor Must Veto the 'Timely Justice Act'
By Juan Melendez
When I was arrested for a murder I didn't commit, I had alibi witnesses placing me elsewhere at the time of the crime. There was no physical evidence tying me to the bloody crime scene. The only evidence that the state of Florida presented against me were two questionable witnesses: a paid police informant and another who falsely implicated me and others under the threat of the electric chair. In exchange for his testimony against me, he received two years' probation.
My trial took less than a week. I was sentenced to death. I spent nearly 18 years on death row, a traumatic and heartbreaking time for me and my family.
Although my mother prayed that my innocence would one day be proven and I would be released, she also saved money to take my body home to Puerto Rico and bury me there.
I never stopped fighting for my freedom. After 16 years on death row, the case against me finally fell apart when critical evidence was discovered, including a transcript of a taped confession by the real killer, along with other exculpatory evidence that the prosecutor had withheld from my attorneys.
Shockingly, up until this point, the Florida Supreme Court had upheld my conviction and death sentence three times on appeal. I was saved by the grace of God or, as some would say, "pure luck."
Finally, after almost 18 years on death row, the truth about my innocence came out. I was exonerated, and today I am a free man.
What happened to me has happened to many other people as well. Florida leads the nation in exonerations in death penalty cases. Twenty-four innocent people have been freed from our death row, including myself. There can be no question that mistakes have happened in our capital punishment system. It stands to reason that there may be more mistakes in the system still.
In Florida capital cases, the final decision rests with the executive. Governor Rick Scott has the discretion to determine which of the cases on death row should move forward and receive an execution date, and which may benefit from more time and consideration.
New legislation, recently passed by the Florida House and Senate, would change that. The so-called "Timely Justice Act" would remove the Governor's prerogative to set execution dates and replace it with an automatic timeline for all cases.
The "Timely Justice Act" would speed up a system we know has already sent innocent men, like myself, to death row. Some of these prisoners may be men like me, who have exhausted their legal appeals, yet keep trying to find a way to prove their innocence.
In multiple cases of current death row prisoners, we don't know exactly what the legal claims are. Some of the men on Florida's death row ran out of legal options simply because their attorneys missed filing deadlines.
In those instances, no court had the opportunity to evaluate the claims and determine whether they have merit. How can we possibly justify speeding up the execution of prisoners in those cases?
According to logic of the "Timely Justice Act," any prisoner who has exhausted his appeals and been through a clemency process has had every opportunity and is ready for an execution date, regardless of the specific questions and issues that surround his case.
I am living proof that each case is unique and that the system must allow ample time for the truth to emerge.
Given Florida's troubling track record on wrongful convictions, this legislation ensures the unthinkable -- the execution of an innocent person.
Governor Scott has the power to prevent the execution of the wrongfully convicted by vetoing the "Timely Justice Act." Because of my firsthand knowledge that mistakes do happen in our capital punishment system, I pray the governor uses his authority to do so.
- - - - -
Juan Melendez was exonerated in 2002. A national and international speaker on the death penalty, he works with Witness to Innocence.
/ / / / /
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/ap/crime/inmates-urge-scott-to-veto-timely-justice-act/nXrk5/
May 16, 2013 | via Palm Beach Post
Ex-death row inmates: Veto Timely Justice Act
by KELLI KENNEDY | The Associated Press
MIAMI — Two former death row inmates who have since been exonerated urged Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday to veto legislation that would expedite the state's capital punishment process, worrying it will condemn some innocent men to death.
"If (this bill) had been law, it would have ended my life. I am innocent," said Seth Penalver, who was exonerated after 18 years in prison.
Penalver and Herman Lindsey, who was freed after three years on death row, pleaded with the Republican governor to grant him a meeting, saying at least 13 people currently on death row have exhausted their post-conviction appeals and gone through the clemency process. They fear that if Scott signs the Timely Justice Act, the governor could be putting innocent inmates to death without ample time and adequate assurance that they truly are guilty. The two appeared at a news conference Wednesday.
The bill, which was recently passed by the Republican-led Legislature, essentially minimizes the time between sentencing and execution by creating tighter timeframes for appeals and post-conviction motions and by imposing reporting requirements on case progress. The measure also re-establishes a separate agency for north Florida to provide appellate-level legal representation to inmates sentenced to death, and requires them to "pursue all possible remedies in state court."
It would also require a governor to sign a death warrant within 30 days of a State Supreme Court review of a capital conviction. The state would be required to execute the defendant within 180 days of the warrant.
The law comes as Florida's capital punishment process has come under intense scrutiny and has been criticized for allowing some condemned inmates to languish for decades on death row. A New York Times editorial published Tuesday said the bill was "grotesquely named."
Florida has exonerated 24 men on death row since 1973, more than any other state, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Florida now has 405 inmates on death row, more than any other state except California. It takes an average of 13 years for an inmate to move from sentencing to execution.
Penalver hired a private investigator and found new evidence, which he said prosecutors had hid from him, that pointed to other suspects. He was freed in December 2012, after "crying like a baby" and dropping to his knees in prayer in the courtroom as jurors exonerated him on three first-degree murder convictions, armed robbery and armed burglary. After 18 years in prison, the first thing he vowed to do was to find a church. It was 3:30 a.m. in downtown Fort Lauderdale, but Penalver, now 40, found a church and prayed. Then, he hit the beach, longing to see palm trees and the ocean.
Lindsey said many attorneys handling death row cases are underpaid and don't have the resources to conduct extensive investigations for new evidence.
Critics worry that DNA evidence might be introduced later that proves a condemned prisoner's innocence.
"You're willing to sign a bill for the death warrants, but you're not willing to take a look at what is really happening," Lindsey said, referring to Scott.
The governor has given little indication about where he stands on the bill, but his spokeswoman, Jackie Schutz, said Wednesday, "We want to hear from Floridians about the merits of this legislation, which our general counsel's office is currently reviewing."
Supporters of the measure say that numerous people have sat on Florida's death row for longer than 30 years, making a mockery of the justice system and further hurting the victims' families because they have to wait for years for closure.
Mark Schlakman, senior program director for Florida State University's Center for Advancement of Human Rights, said the bill was ill-conceived but has also been mischaracterized by some advocacy groups. He said it wouldn't necessarily mean immediate death warrants for a set number of inmates.
He also said the portion of the law requiring the governor to sign a death warrant within 30 days of review is moot because the governor's clemency powers cannot be abridged.
If the governor signs the bill, Schlakman said it could signal that the state is open to more meaningful reforms going forward, including unanimous jury legislation. Under state law, a jury now only needs a majority, not a unanimous recommendation, for a death sentence. He pressed for similar reforms that were pointed out in a scathing 2006 report by the American Bar Association.
"The concerns about undue delay in the process shouldn't be ignored but they should be cast within the larger context of comprehensive review of Florida's entire death penalty process to minimize risk that innocent people be put to death and that was not the emphasis of this bill," he said.
/ / / / /
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/15/florida_law_would_speed_up_executions/
May 15, 2013 @ 03:39 PM CDT | Salon
Florida law would speed up executions
The ill-named Timely Justice Act would see 13 death row inmates immediately issued death warrants
By Natasha Lennard
May 15, 2013
A bill that has passed both the Florida House and Senate – and looks likely to be signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott in the coming days — would speed up the process that sees death row inmates executed in the state. It is, as the New York Times editorial board commented, “grotesque,” especially in a state that has seen 24 death row exonerations (leading the country in this regard) and should thus be weary of speedy executions.
The ill-named Timely Justice Act would require the governor to sign a death warrant within 30 days of a review of a capital conviction by the State Supreme Court. The state would then be required to execute the defendant within 180 days of the warrant. So if signed intolaw, 13 of Florida’s 405 death row inmates will be immediately issued death warrants. The legislation aims to save money and time but, as Rania Khalek pointed out, at the possible expense of innocent lives:
Proponents of the Act argue that the appeals process is too lengthy, costly and delays justice. Indeed, the process can take decades and cost millions but that is to ensure justice not delay it. After all, several Florida exonerees were on death row for over a decade before proving their innocence. One example is Juan Melendez, who spent 18 years on death row and lost three appeals in front of the Florida Supreme Court before his release. Had the “streamline murder” Act been in place at the time there’s a good chance Melendez and others like him would have been killed for crimes they did not commit.
In a most perverse admission, flagged by Khalek, Republican Senator Rob Bradley said “this is not about guilt or innocence, it’s about timely justice.” So long as proceedings through the Kangaroo court are swift, Bradley seems to admit, the lives of inmates are expendable.
For the past two years in a row, Florida has sentenced more people to death than any other state — owing to a number of issues in the state justice system including the fact that while a judge makes the sentencing decision, Florida is one of only three states that allows non-unanimous jury recommendations in capital sentencing.
The Florida Supreme Court and the Florida Bar have called for reviews of the death penalty process in the state in order to make recommendations to improve it; those studies have yet to be undertaken. In 2009, meanwhile, the American Bar Association did study capital punishment in Florida, none of which have been undertaken either. Capital punishment, especially when exacted through a flawed judicial process like Florida’s, is already barbaric; it needs no acceleration.
/ / / / /
Steve Hall
The StandDown Texas Project
PO Box 13475
Austin, TX 78711
512.879.1675 (o
512.627.3011 (m
shall78711 (Skype
sh...@standdown.org
www.StandDown.org
Tallahassee Democrat - Speed vs. justice
Blog post from:
HuffPost - Melendez: Protect the Innocent: Florida's Governor Must Veto the 'Timely Justice Act'
News articles from:
AP - Ex-death row inmates: Veto Timely Justice Act
Salon - Florida law would speed up executions
- - - - -
http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20130516/OPINION01/305160024/Our-Opinion-Speed-vs-justice
May 16, 2013 | Tallahassee Democrat Editorial
Our Opinion: Speed vs. justice
Be cautious in accelerating executions
Just about the time that many Florida voters again grow tired of the endless appeals and delayed executions of those on Florida’s Death Row, along comes somebody like Clemente Javier “Shorty” Aguirre.
The Legislature passed House Bill 7083, known as the Timely Justice Act, this session in part to speed up the process that leads to an execution. There is no denying that the process can be a long one.
Consider Elmer Leon Carroll, who now is scheduled to be executed May 29 for raping and stabbing to death a 10-year-old girl in Orange County. The killing took place in October 1990; if Mr. Carroll is indeed executed, it will have taken nearly 23 years.
“When someone sits on death row for 10, 20, 30 years, it really makes a mockery of our justice system,” said state Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Orange Park, during debate on the bill. “It’s not fair to the victims’ families not only to be traumatized by the loss of a loved one, but then have to sit and suffer while justice is not realized year after year after year.”
A key part of the bill requires that the governor issue a death warrant within 30 days of being notified that an appeals process is completed and that the sentence be carried out within 180 days. Making that work could be a problem, because the Florida Constitution still grants clemency powers to the governor. But there are bigger problems. Consider “Shorty” Aguirre.
Mr. Aguirre is on Death Row, after being convicted in the 2004 killings of a 47-year-old woman and her paralyzed mother. Their blood was found on his clothing, and it seemed to be an open-and-shut case. But now Mr. Aguirre has a new legal team, including help from the Innocence Project, and new DNA tests may point the finger of blame at the 47-year-old’s daughter, who has a history of mental illness.
Since 1973, Florida has seen 24 people exonerated after being on Death Row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The Florida Bar has adopted a resolution asking the state to initiate a review of the state’s death penalty process.
General debate about the death penalty can wait for another day. But the state must never execute an innocent person.
Speeding up justice is a laudable goal. Speeding up a malfunctioning justice system might not be.
/ / / / /
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/juan-melendez/florida-timely-justice-act_b_3285154.html
May 16, 2013 | Huffington Post
Protect the Innocent: Florida's Governor Must Veto the 'Timely Justice Act'
By Juan Melendez
When I was arrested for a murder I didn't commit, I had alibi witnesses placing me elsewhere at the time of the crime. There was no physical evidence tying me to the bloody crime scene. The only evidence that the state of Florida presented against me were two questionable witnesses: a paid police informant and another who falsely implicated me and others under the threat of the electric chair. In exchange for his testimony against me, he received two years' probation.
My trial took less than a week. I was sentenced to death. I spent nearly 18 years on death row, a traumatic and heartbreaking time for me and my family.
Although my mother prayed that my innocence would one day be proven and I would be released, she also saved money to take my body home to Puerto Rico and bury me there.
I never stopped fighting for my freedom. After 16 years on death row, the case against me finally fell apart when critical evidence was discovered, including a transcript of a taped confession by the real killer, along with other exculpatory evidence that the prosecutor had withheld from my attorneys.
Shockingly, up until this point, the Florida Supreme Court had upheld my conviction and death sentence three times on appeal. I was saved by the grace of God or, as some would say, "pure luck."
Finally, after almost 18 years on death row, the truth about my innocence came out. I was exonerated, and today I am a free man.
What happened to me has happened to many other people as well. Florida leads the nation in exonerations in death penalty cases. Twenty-four innocent people have been freed from our death row, including myself. There can be no question that mistakes have happened in our capital punishment system. It stands to reason that there may be more mistakes in the system still.
In Florida capital cases, the final decision rests with the executive. Governor Rick Scott has the discretion to determine which of the cases on death row should move forward and receive an execution date, and which may benefit from more time and consideration.
New legislation, recently passed by the Florida House and Senate, would change that. The so-called "Timely Justice Act" would remove the Governor's prerogative to set execution dates and replace it with an automatic timeline for all cases.
The "Timely Justice Act" would speed up a system we know has already sent innocent men, like myself, to death row. Some of these prisoners may be men like me, who have exhausted their legal appeals, yet keep trying to find a way to prove their innocence.
In multiple cases of current death row prisoners, we don't know exactly what the legal claims are. Some of the men on Florida's death row ran out of legal options simply because their attorneys missed filing deadlines.
In those instances, no court had the opportunity to evaluate the claims and determine whether they have merit. How can we possibly justify speeding up the execution of prisoners in those cases?
According to logic of the "Timely Justice Act," any prisoner who has exhausted his appeals and been through a clemency process has had every opportunity and is ready for an execution date, regardless of the specific questions and issues that surround his case.
I am living proof that each case is unique and that the system must allow ample time for the truth to emerge.
Given Florida's troubling track record on wrongful convictions, this legislation ensures the unthinkable -- the execution of an innocent person.
Governor Scott has the power to prevent the execution of the wrongfully convicted by vetoing the "Timely Justice Act." Because of my firsthand knowledge that mistakes do happen in our capital punishment system, I pray the governor uses his authority to do so.
- - - - -
Juan Melendez was exonerated in 2002. A national and international speaker on the death penalty, he works with Witness to Innocence.
/ / / / /
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/ap/crime/inmates-urge-scott-to-veto-timely-justice-act/nXrk5/
May 16, 2013 | via Palm Beach Post
Ex-death row inmates: Veto Timely Justice Act
by KELLI KENNEDY | The Associated Press
MIAMI — Two former death row inmates who have since been exonerated urged Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday to veto legislation that would expedite the state's capital punishment process, worrying it will condemn some innocent men to death.
"If (this bill) had been law, it would have ended my life. I am innocent," said Seth Penalver, who was exonerated after 18 years in prison.
Penalver and Herman Lindsey, who was freed after three years on death row, pleaded with the Republican governor to grant him a meeting, saying at least 13 people currently on death row have exhausted their post-conviction appeals and gone through the clemency process. They fear that if Scott signs the Timely Justice Act, the governor could be putting innocent inmates to death without ample time and adequate assurance that they truly are guilty. The two appeared at a news conference Wednesday.
The bill, which was recently passed by the Republican-led Legislature, essentially minimizes the time between sentencing and execution by creating tighter timeframes for appeals and post-conviction motions and by imposing reporting requirements on case progress. The measure also re-establishes a separate agency for north Florida to provide appellate-level legal representation to inmates sentenced to death, and requires them to "pursue all possible remedies in state court."
It would also require a governor to sign a death warrant within 30 days of a State Supreme Court review of a capital conviction. The state would be required to execute the defendant within 180 days of the warrant.
The law comes as Florida's capital punishment process has come under intense scrutiny and has been criticized for allowing some condemned inmates to languish for decades on death row. A New York Times editorial published Tuesday said the bill was "grotesquely named."
Florida has exonerated 24 men on death row since 1973, more than any other state, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Florida now has 405 inmates on death row, more than any other state except California. It takes an average of 13 years for an inmate to move from sentencing to execution.
Penalver hired a private investigator and found new evidence, which he said prosecutors had hid from him, that pointed to other suspects. He was freed in December 2012, after "crying like a baby" and dropping to his knees in prayer in the courtroom as jurors exonerated him on three first-degree murder convictions, armed robbery and armed burglary. After 18 years in prison, the first thing he vowed to do was to find a church. It was 3:30 a.m. in downtown Fort Lauderdale, but Penalver, now 40, found a church and prayed. Then, he hit the beach, longing to see palm trees and the ocean.
Lindsey said many attorneys handling death row cases are underpaid and don't have the resources to conduct extensive investigations for new evidence.
Critics worry that DNA evidence might be introduced later that proves a condemned prisoner's innocence.
"You're willing to sign a bill for the death warrants, but you're not willing to take a look at what is really happening," Lindsey said, referring to Scott.
The governor has given little indication about where he stands on the bill, but his spokeswoman, Jackie Schutz, said Wednesday, "We want to hear from Floridians about the merits of this legislation, which our general counsel's office is currently reviewing."
Supporters of the measure say that numerous people have sat on Florida's death row for longer than 30 years, making a mockery of the justice system and further hurting the victims' families because they have to wait for years for closure.
Mark Schlakman, senior program director for Florida State University's Center for Advancement of Human Rights, said the bill was ill-conceived but has also been mischaracterized by some advocacy groups. He said it wouldn't necessarily mean immediate death warrants for a set number of inmates.
He also said the portion of the law requiring the governor to sign a death warrant within 30 days of review is moot because the governor's clemency powers cannot be abridged.
If the governor signs the bill, Schlakman said it could signal that the state is open to more meaningful reforms going forward, including unanimous jury legislation. Under state law, a jury now only needs a majority, not a unanimous recommendation, for a death sentence. He pressed for similar reforms that were pointed out in a scathing 2006 report by the American Bar Association.
"The concerns about undue delay in the process shouldn't be ignored but they should be cast within the larger context of comprehensive review of Florida's entire death penalty process to minimize risk that innocent people be put to death and that was not the emphasis of this bill," he said.
/ / / / /
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/15/florida_law_would_speed_up_executions/
May 15, 2013 @ 03:39 PM CDT | Salon
Florida law would speed up executions
The ill-named Timely Justice Act would see 13 death row inmates immediately issued death warrants
By Natasha Lennard
May 15, 2013
A bill that has passed both the Florida House and Senate – and looks likely to be signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott in the coming days — would speed up the process that sees death row inmates executed in the state. It is, as the New York Times editorial board commented, “grotesque,” especially in a state that has seen 24 death row exonerations (leading the country in this regard) and should thus be weary of speedy executions.
The ill-named Timely Justice Act would require the governor to sign a death warrant within 30 days of a review of a capital conviction by the State Supreme Court. The state would then be required to execute the defendant within 180 days of the warrant. So if signed intolaw, 13 of Florida’s 405 death row inmates will be immediately issued death warrants. The legislation aims to save money and time but, as Rania Khalek pointed out, at the possible expense of innocent lives:
Proponents of the Act argue that the appeals process is too lengthy, costly and delays justice. Indeed, the process can take decades and cost millions but that is to ensure justice not delay it. After all, several Florida exonerees were on death row for over a decade before proving their innocence. One example is Juan Melendez, who spent 18 years on death row and lost three appeals in front of the Florida Supreme Court before his release. Had the “streamline murder” Act been in place at the time there’s a good chance Melendez and others like him would have been killed for crimes they did not commit.
In a most perverse admission, flagged by Khalek, Republican Senator Rob Bradley said “this is not about guilt or innocence, it’s about timely justice.” So long as proceedings through the Kangaroo court are swift, Bradley seems to admit, the lives of inmates are expendable.
For the past two years in a row, Florida has sentenced more people to death than any other state — owing to a number of issues in the state justice system including the fact that while a judge makes the sentencing decision, Florida is one of only three states that allows non-unanimous jury recommendations in capital sentencing.
The Florida Supreme Court and the Florida Bar have called for reviews of the death penalty process in the state in order to make recommendations to improve it; those studies have yet to be undertaken. In 2009, meanwhile, the American Bar Association did study capital punishment in Florida, none of which have been undertaken either. Capital punishment, especially when exacted through a flawed judicial process like Florida’s, is already barbaric; it needs no acceleration.
/ / / / /
Steve Hall
The StandDown Texas Project
PO Box 13475
Austin, TX 78711
512.879.1675 (o
512.627.3011 (m
shall78711 (Skype
sh...@standdown.org
www.StandDown.org
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