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Action Alert: Senate Committee Hearing for SB 40 Wed 3/25

DE Repeal logoThe Campaign to Repeal Delaware’s death penalty is in full swing! Here’s how you can help:

On Wednesday, March 18, 2015, Sen. Karen Peterson (D), Sen. Gary Simpson (R), and Rep. Sean Lynn (D), re-introduced legislation to repeal the death penalty. We are grateful for their leadership on Senate Bill 40.

Join Us

  • Help us fill Legislative Hall!  The Senate Judiciary Committee will be held on Wednesday, March 25, 2015 at 2pm.  We will need our supporters there early if we plan to fill the Senate Chamber.  Can you arrive between 11:30am – 12 Noon?  Click here to let us know. Getting there early means that you’ll have time to pay a visit to your Senator and Representative and let them know that you favor repeal.

Speak Up

  • Write your legislators and thank those that support repeal.  Ask them what they will do to ensure that SB 40 gets a vote.  If your Representative or Senator does not favor repeal, share the reasons why you think they should.  Click here to send them a quick email.
  • Host a letter-writing party, phone bank, and/or ask one of our field organizers to speak at your next meeting or church service.  Email Ellen@derepeal.org to schedule.

Speak Out

  • SB 40 is in the news! Visit the links below and leave positive comments on the articles.
  • Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter and help us share breaking news.

WDEL: “Delaware’s Death Penalty Put to Test Again” [Includes Video] http://wdel.com/story.php?id=66968#.VQozkyZE-Bs.wordpress

WMDT TV (MD): “Senator introduces bill to repeal death penalty:  http://www.wmdt.com/news/more-local-news/senator-introduces-bill-to-repeal-death-penalty/31874136

News Journal: “Sen. Peterson: Top Dem blocking death penalty repeal” http://www.delawareonline.com/story/firststatepolitics/2015/03/18/delaware-death-penalty-repeal-schwartzkopf-peterson/24986689/

WBOC TV (MD) [Includes Video]: “Death penalty repeal push back on in Delaware” http://www.wboc.com/story/28556379/death-penalty-repeal-push-back-on-in-del

WDDE: “Advocates of death penalty repeal start new push at Leg Hall” http://www.wdde.org/74519-advocates-death-penalty-repeal-start-push-leg-hall’

DE NewsZap: ”Death penalty repeal bill introduced again.” http://delaware.newszap.com/centraldelaware/138954-70/death-penalty-repeal-bill-introduced-again

Connect with us through our Facebook and Twitter feeds for upcoming events and specific updates on repeal in Delaware and across the nation.

DCODP is a founding member of the Delaware Repeal Project.

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Repeal Bill SB 40 Introduced in Delaware!

Today, Senators Karen Peterson and Gary Simpson and Rep. Sean Lynn introduced Senate Bill 40. The purpose of the bill is to repeal Delaware’s death penalty. This is the second time a death penalty repeal bill has been introduced. Introduced in 2013, Senate Bill 19 passed the Senate, but was stalled in the House Judiciary Committee.

Watch Senator Peterson’s comments: WDEL 1150AM – Delaware’s death penalty put to test again.

Read News Journal story: State Sen. says top Dem blocking death penalty repeal.

Write your state legislators asking them to support Senate Bill 40 to repeal Delaware’s death penalty with no exceptions! Click here to use the email form at Delaware Repeal’s website.

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DCODP Month Meeting – Mon March 23, 5:30-7:00pm

Join us at our Monthly DCODP Meeting as we plan to repeal Delaware’s death penalty in 2015. Learn about the current campaign. Find out what you can do to help end Delaware’s ineffective, costly, and biased death penalty. Monday 3/23/15 from 5:30 to 7:00pm. LOCATION: Wilmington Friends Meeting House, 1st floor Social Room, 401 N. West St, Wilmington, DE 19801. Park in the parking lot on the 5th Street side or on the street. Ring the doorbell at the West Street entrance. Call 302-379-0488 for info. All are welcome! Invite a friend.

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DEATH PENALTY REPEAL BILL TO BE INTRODUCED

Dear Death Penalty Repeal Supporters,

We need your help to get Delaware’s repeal bill off to a good start. You are invited to join us at three important events in Dover. Come early and bring a friend.

#1 – Help fill Legislative Hall.  The bill hearing is *anticipated* for 1pm or so on Wednesday, March 25th. In the next few days, we expect the bill to be circulated for co-sponsors. NOTE: We need to fill Legislative Hall EARLY. We are calling for supporters to arrive as early as 10:30 or 11am. Please watch for further announcements.

#2 – Wednesday, March 18 at 1pm. Bill Introduction and Press Conference. Please plan to stand with the bill sponsors and faith leaders in the Senate Chambers. RSVP to abe@abolition.org if you can be with us.

#3 – Ask friends, neighbors, family, and group and church members to contact their legislators. You can point people to the action page at DERepeal.org so that we can easily track constituent contact. The message at its core is simple – “I live in your district. I urge you to support the bill to repeal Delaware’s death penalty in all cases.” We will update the language once we have a bMarch16PrayInDoverill number.

#4 – Monday, March 16, Noon – Join us in Dover and, also, share the attached e-flier for the Complexities of Color Agenda’s “Moral Monday Prayer-In” at Legislative Hall. The death penalty repeal bill is but one of a number of important issues being raised at this exciting event.

Feel free to e-mail or call Abe Bonowitz directly at any time with any questions or concerns at abe@abolition.org or 561-371-5204 or my toll free number, 800-973-6548. You can also reach DE Repeal Campaign Manager Ti Hall at ti@derepeal.org.

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DCODP Monthly Meeting – Monday, February 23rd, 5:30-7:00pm

Join us at our Monthly DCODP Meeting as we plan to repeal Delaware’s death penalty in 2015. Learn about the current campaign. Find out what you can do to help end Delaware’s ineffective, costly, and biased death penalty. Monday 2/23/15 from 5:30 to 7:00pm. LOCATION: Wilmington Friends Meeting House, 1st floor Social Room, 401 N. West St, Wilmington, DE 19801. Park in the parking lot on the 5th Street side or on the street. Ring the doorbell at the West Street entrance. Call 302-379-0488 for info. All are welcome! Invite a friend. 

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Two men freed from Delaware’s death row due to prosecutorial misconduct

Prosecutorial misconduct contributed to reversing the convictions and death sentences of two men who served time on Delaware’s death row.

In January, the Delaware Supreme Court overturned the conviction and sentence of Isaiah McCoy, who was sentenced to death in 2012 for the murder of James Mumford.

In February, Jerome Wright was set free after his conviction and sentence were overturned. Jerome Wright was sentenced to death in 1992 for the murder of Phillip Seifert.

Both men may face new trials.

More information on Isaiah McCoy

More information on Jermaine Wright

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DE Repeal Project letter to legislators calling for full repeal of death penalty

“The Delaware Repeal Project has issued an emphatic call to our legislators for full repeal of the death penalty on behalf of our coalition partners and the tens of thousands of Delawareans we collectively represent.

The attached letter, which our legislators received yesterday, represents our collective agreement that the system of capital punishment is broken beyond repair. It is immoral, unethical, biased, irresponsibly costly, does not serve as a deterrent to violent crime, and does not provide care or closure for families of murder victims.”

Legislators Full Repeal_2 2 15 (2)

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DCODP Monthly Meeting – Monday January 26, 2015 at 5:30pm

Delaware legislators are back in session. Join us at our Monthly DCODP Meeting as we plan to repeal Delaware’s death penalty in 2015. Find out what you can do to help end Delaware’s ineffective, costly, and biased death penalty. Monday 1/26/15 from 5:30 to 7:30pm. LOCATION: Wilmington Friends Meeting House, 1st floor Social Room, 401 N. West St, Wilmington, DE 19801. Park in the parking lot on the 5th Street side or on the street. Ring the doorbell at the West Street entrance. Call 302-379-0488 for info. All are welcome! Invite a friend!

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Thoughts on brokenness, humanity,and compassion from Bryan Stevenson’s “Just Mercy”

I recently finished Bryan Stevenson’s tremendous new book, “Just Mercy.” It is a powerful study of the inhumanity that continues to plague the criminal justice system in America. It draws you in, then breaks your heart. Toward the end of the book, I found some passages that beautifully articulate the connection between brokenness, humanity, and compassion. These passages resonated with feelings I have often had so I wanted to share:

“We are all broken by something. We have all hurt someone and have been hurt. We all share the condition of brokenness even if our brokenness is not equivalent…The ways in which I have been hurt – and have hurt others – are different from the ways Jimmy Dill [wrongfully sentenced to death and executed] suffered and caused suffering. But our shared brokenness connected us.” (p. 289)

“I guess I’d always known but never fully considered that being broken is what makes us human. We all have our reasons. Sometimes we’re fractured by the choices we make; sometimes we’re shattered by things we would never have chosen. But our brokenness is also the source of our common humanity, the basis for our shared search for comfort, meaning, and healing. Our shared vulnerability and imperfection nurtures and sustains our capacity for compassion.” (p. 289)

“We have a choice. We can embrace our humanness, which means embracing our broken natures and the compassion that remains our best hope for healing. Or we can deny our brokenness, forswear compassion, and, as a result, deny our own humanity.” (p. 289)

“I understood that even as we are caught in a web of hurt and brokenness, we’re also in a web of healing and mercy…The power of just mercy is that it belongs to the undeserving. It’s when mercy is least expected that it’s most potent – strong enough to break the cycle of victimization and victimhood, retribution and suffering. It has the power to heal the psychic harm and injuries that lead to aggression and violence, abuse of power, mass incarceration.” (p. 294)

Abolishing the death penalty the greatest gift

The Delaware State News published my opinion piece on how the death penalty is a false promise to victims’ families. “If I had to invent something that would inflict the most pain on victims’ family members, it would be the death penalty…Imagine having to be immersed in the excruciating details of the murder repeatedly for years…During those years, family members’ lives are bound to the killer’s, the person who hurt them and their loved one the most.”
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