Delaware murder conviction and death sentence overturned
Breaking news: Delaware may join the 26 other states with wrongful death penalty convictions. Originally sentenced in 1992, Jermaine Wright’s conviction and death sentence were overturned today by the Delaware Supreme Court due to prosecutorial misconduct. The A.G.s office is assessing whether to retry the case.
Thank you to Connie Jones and Joanne Cabry for raising their voices asking for fair and appropriate behavior on the part of our legislators and courts:
On Fri, Apr 25, 2014, Connie Jones’ letter was published in the Coastal Point:
Editor:
It’s time to let the House of Representatives vote on repealing the death penalty.
Senate Bill 19 calls for the repeal of the death penalty. After passing the Senate, the bill was placed in the House Judiciary Committee in March 2013, and there it remains because there are not sufficient committee members willing to vote to release it. The vote was 6 to 5, according to one representative.
I believe committee members who voted against releasing SB 19 should explain why they are blocking their fellow representatives from voting on this very important bill. Perhaps they could also explain why the criteria for releasing a bill are different in the House and the Senate? In March 2013, the Senate Executive Committee determined it was ready and appropriate to release the bill to the full Senate for a vote. Yet the House committee has had the bill tabled for over a year.
A representative has the right to vote against repeal of the death penalty, but the place to cast that vote is on the House floor, not in a committee hearing.
Connie Jones
Lewes
On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 10:23 PM, Joanne Cabry <jcabry@gmail.com> wrote:
Delaware State News 04/25/2014, Page A06
Justice for all — who can afford it
Two recent news stories have strengthened my conviction that we must repeal capital punishment in Delaware.
In January, prosecutors opened a sealed envelope from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Wilmington during a drug-prosecution case in Kent County and discovered Oxycontin pills had been replaced with blood-pressure medicine. [“Police probe drug evidence tampering,” article, Feb. 22, and subsequent articles.] Since then, over 60 cases of tainted evidence have been discovered, and there are thousands of drug samples from 2010 to the present yet to be tested.
I have heard over and over again that we don’t execute innocent people in Delaware. How can anyone say that with certainty – especially in light of the ongoing investigation of massive contamination of evidence in the Medical Examiner’s office? Judges and prosecutors are humans, subject to the same human frailties we all possess. We all make mistakes.
I have also heard the argument that we have a legal system that protects the defendant. Sadly, I think the reality is we have a legal system that protects the defendants who can afford to pay for their own defense.
In June 2008, a state prosecutor offered Robert Richards IV a plea to a single count of fourth- degree rape of his 3-year- old daughter, which carries no mandatory time. Richards accepted, admitting in court that he abused his child. Superior Court Judge Jan Jurden, at the recommendation of the prosecution, suspended an eight-year prison sentence and sentenced Richards to a treatment program for sex offenders. [“Legal brethren back judge in du Pont heir sentencing,” article, April 9] Richards’ attorney commented, “It was more than reasonable, an enlightened plea offer.” As a multimillionaire, Richards could afford to hire a private attorney to defend him. Even though I disagree with the decision of Judge Jan Jurden, who has been described as “an outstanding jurist” by Delaware’s attorney general and a number of lawyers and their professional organizations, I acknowledge Robert Richards’ right to use his financial resources to engage a lawyer or legal team to get him the best deal possible.
But the vast majority of capital defendants don’t have Robert Richards’ money. An article in the National Law Journal concluded that capital trials are “more like a random flip of the coin than a delicate balancing of scales,” because the defense attorney is “too often … ill-trained, unprepared [and] grossly underpaid.”
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has observed that “People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty … I have yet to see a death case among the dozens coming to the Supreme Court on eve- of- execution stay applications in which the defendant was well represented at trial.”
Study after study has shown that whether or not a defendant will be sentenced to death depends more on the quality of his legal team than any other factor.
Until we can change the sad reality that a person’s wealth determines the quality of his or her defense, and until we can say humans never make mistakes, the state has no right to execute a human being.
Joanne Cabry
Chair, Progressive Democrats of Sussex County Rehoboth Beach
Certificate: Sussex prison death a homicide 4/21/14 “The February death of a man being held at the Sussex Correctional Institution has been ruled a homicide due to multiple blunt force injuries, according to a death certificate provided an attorney representing the man’s family.”
Six experts debate the death penalty in today’s issue of the New York Times. The fact that the death penalty has reached this level of civil, open, public conversation gives me great hope for the future.
What It Means If the Death Penalty is Dying, NYT, 4/7/14
Rev. Lawrence Michael Livingston outlines IMAC’s support of Senate Bill 19, the bill calling for repeal of Delaware’s death penalty. He cites bias, harm to families, risk of executing an innocent, and morality as reasons Delaware legislators should repeal the death penalty and replace it with life without parole. Check out the article that appeared 3/30/14 in the News Journal.
Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, will return to Delaware this month!
Spread the word about these 3 events and remember to bring a friend.
Sister Helen’s book helped spark a national dialogue around the death penalty. She continues her work today as a prominent death penalty repeal activist working to change hearts and minds everywhere she goes. Her advocacy work has been an inspiration to many within this movement, and we are honored to have her back to help us end the death penalty in Delaware.
Sister Helen last came to our state in October, where she held a press conference, spoke to hundreds of Delawareans, and hosted a breakfast with legislators. If you missed her last visit, we promise that you don’t want to miss her again.
Delaware Lacks Lethal Injection Drugs
Currently, Delaware prison officials have only one of the necessary lethal injection drugs on hand, according to records obtained by the AP.
Since 1973, 143 people from 26 states have been freed from death row after evidence revealed that they were sentenced to die for crimes they did not commit. That’s one innocent person exonerated from death row for every ten who have been executed.
This February, 15 of those exonerees will come to Delaware to share their stories of how the innocent can be sentenced to death.
The Delaware Repeal Project (www.derepeal.org) and Witness to Innocence (www.witnesstoinnocence.org) invite you to join us to meet and hear the stories of these exonerees. Come to one or all three events. Please spread the word.
February 20th – 7:00pm – University of Delaware, Kirkbride 100 – Newark, DE
Hear Kirk Bloodsworth and Shujaa Graham, two death row exonerees, speak at The University of Delaware. Free event.
February 21st – 6:00pm – The Delaware Theatre Company – 200 Water St, Wilmington, DE
Join us for a reception at the Delaware Theatre Company in conjunction with a performance of The Exonerated, a play which shares the stories of death row exonerees. The reception begins at 6:00pm (free), followed by the play at 8:00pm (Tickets are $35). Hors d’oeuvres will be served. To purchase tickets for the play, visit delawaretheatre.org. Enter promo code “WTI” and the Theatre Company will make a donation to Witness to Innocence.
February 22nd – 12:00pm – Limestone Presbyterian Church — 3201 Limestone Rd, Wilmington, DE
At this public event, you will have the opportunity to speak to exonerees in small, round-table discussions. Free event.
Email derepeal@gmail.com with any questions. Visit www.derepeal.org for further info.
Delaware Judge Opposes Death Penalty
Judge Leo Strine, Jr., nominated by Gov. Markell to become Delaware’s new chief justice, says he is personally opposed to the death penalty. As a member of the Board of Pardons, he voted to recommend commutation of a killer’s death sentence.
Check out the year in review in this quick summary or watch the 2 minute video. The death penalty is on its way out. Delaware had no executions in 2013! However, we still have much work to do to repeal the death penalty in Delaware!
Delaware Citizens Opposed to the Death Penalty 