NCADP
1436
U Street,
NW
Suite 104
Washington
DC
20009
888-286-2237
[email protected]
Tennessee:
Phillip Workman (TN) – W/W stay
of execution
April 6, 2000…1:00am (EST)
No one has been executed in Tennessee since 1960. Now, amidst a time of falling crime rates, a twenty-year low in public support for the death penalty and a nationwide debate about wrongful convictions, the state of Tennessee is planning its first execution in 40 years.
Phillip Workman was convicted in 1981 for killing Memphis police officer
Ronald Oliver. Lieutenant Oliver’s death was the result of a shootout
that occurred as police tried to apprehend Workman f or the armed robbery
of a Wendy’s restaurant. Despite compelling evidence that Phillip was not
responsible for the shooting, state and federal courts have washed their
hands of the affair, and left his fate in the hands of Governor Don
Sundquist.
There are two basic facts which call Phillip’s guilt into question. First, the ballistics evidence gathered from the crime scene indicate that the bullets which killed Ronald Oliver did not come from the gun Phillip fired during the shootout. In fact, the bullets taken from the victim match the standard-issue weapons used by Memphis police at the time. In light of this evidence, it is likely that Oliver’s tragic death was caused by the “friendly fire” of fellow officers.
Second, the testimony of the prosecution’s star eye-witness has been completely discredited by Phillip’s appellate attorneys. Harold Davis was a drug-addict who hoped to collect reward money when he came to police with his version of the crime. His story changed several times until it finally matched the one touted by police.
“Basically they told me what happened, how it happened, when it happened,” Davis said in a videotaped affidavit taken by Phillip’s appellate attorneys, “[they told me] this is what you’re going to say.” Davis’ former girlfriend, who was with him on the night of the shooting, also testified that they were nowhere near the Wendy’s when the crime occurred.
Since all of this exculpatory evidence came out after Phillip’s trial, it is no wonder he was found guilty and sent to death row.
“It is just flat lying to the public when [State Attorney Paul Summers] says that my case has been viewed by all of the judges. This evidence that we found hasn’t been viewed by any state judge,” said Phillip from death row. Some of the jurors who sentenced Phillip to die have now said that they would have voted differently in light of all this evidence.
According to a new law in Tennessee, all persons sentenced to death
after January 1999 will be put to death by lethal injection. Those
convicted before that date can choose between lethal injection and the
electric chair. Phillip refused to participate in his execution by
choosing methods, and thus is scheduled to die by electrocution.
Robert Coe (TN)-w/? executed
April 19, 2000…12:01am (EST)
Robert Glen Coe was sentenced to death for the 1979 killing of 8-year-old
Cary Ann Medlin. If his execution is carried out it would be
the first in the
state of Tennessee since 1960. And given the evidence in the
case, it will
amount to the execution of a man who is possibly innocent, and who
definitely
suffers from severe mental illness.
When Cary Ann Medlin was found dead in 1979, police quickly arrested
Donald Gant, a man connected to the crime by no less than three
eyewitnesses. He had fresh scratch marks on his neck, blood on
his clothes,
and a car that not only matched a description of the abduction vehicle,
but
had tire treads which matched marks lifted from the mud near Cary Ann
Medlin’s lifeless body. Gant had no alibi for the time of the
kidnaping and
repeatedly changed the story he gave to police.
Conversely, Robert had alibi witnesses who could place him in a different
town at the time of Cary’s abduction. Furthermore, there was no physical
evidence conclusively tying Robert to the victim, or the murder scene.
The only thing that did link Robert to Cary’s murder was a confession;
a
confession viewed skeptically by Robert’s attorneys given their client’s
mental
condition. As a boy, Robert not only endured brutal beatings
by his father,
but was forced to watch as his sisters suffered sexual abuse by the
same
hand. In the years just prior to Cary’s murder, Robert was diagnosed
as paranoid schizophrenic. People with this sort of background
are known to
have a propensity for trying to please authority figures. After
hours of interrogation, Robert’s attorneys maintain that their client
was most likely
anxious to tell police what they wanted to hear.
Unfortunately, the jury which condemned Robert heard neither the
exculpatory nor the mitigating evidence laid out above. His conviction
was
based almost completely on his confession.
Alabama
Robert Tarver (AL)-b/w executed
April 14, 2000…1:01am (EST)
The jury voted for life imprisonment without parole. But the judge
overruled the jury’s decision and sentenced Robert Tarver to death
for the 1984 murder of Hugh Kite.
This happened despite the fact that according to the United States Court of Appeals “the defendant exhibited no signs of deception in a polygraph examination in which he denied committing the crime or being present when it was committed.”
A pending legislation process will may offer lethal injection as the
method of execution for death row inmates in Alabama in the future but
for now Robert Tarver is still scheduled to be electrocuted.
Arkansas
Michael O’Rourke (AR) – W/W stay
of execution
April 11, 2000…9:00pm (EST)
Michael O’Rourke was sentenced to death for murdering his parents in
1983.
While there is no question that Michael committed the crime, questions
as to his degree of culpability persist. Arrested almost immediately,
Michael spent three years in legal limbo as examiners wrangled over his
competence to stand trial. By the time proceedings finally began
in December 1986, Michael hadn’t spoken to his court-appointed attorney
in more than a year.
The whole of the trial, from jury selection through sentencing, spanned three days, and was highlighted by his attorney’s misconceived effort to illustrate Michael’s insanity by comparing him to Jack the Ripper and Lizzie Borden. Michael himself remained mute throughout.
The most damning evidence given against him was provided by his accomplice,
Dennis Meadors, who had previously cut a sweet plea bargain and received
only probation for his role in the double-murder. Meadors purchased
the gun which killed Francis O’Rourke and admitted to killing Beulah O’Rourke
with a hammer, but claimed that Michael forced him to
participate.
This was good enough for the jury, which took convicted Michael inside
an hour. Sentencing proceeded immediately, with neither the state
nor the defense offering any additional evidence. On Friday evening,
after an exhaustive 68-minute deliberation, the jury set Michael’s penalty
at death and got home to enjoy the weekend. “Wretches hang,” the
English used
to say, “that jurymen may dine.”
Oklahoma
Ronald Keith Boyd (OK) – B/?
executed
April 27, 2000…1:01am (EST)
From a trial wrought with error, a jury convicted Ronald Boyd of armed robbery and murder. Most egregious of the violations was the clear misconduct of the prosecutor, who wore his ability to charge and try capital cases like a badge before the jury. He continually challenged the courage of the jury to convict Boyd and sentence him to die.
On appeal, defense attorneys argued that this behavior constituted a failure on the part of the prosecution to realize the role of the jury to make decisions free from undue influence. Unfortunately, the Oklahoma judiciary has rather flippantly dismissed the issue of prosecutorial misconduct. It cited the fact that the jury had the correct instructions and presumed they therefore followed the law.
Texas
Ricky McGinn (TX) – W/W stay
of execution
April 27, 2000…7:00pm (EST)
The state of Texas is planning to execute Ricky McGinn for the 1993 murder of his stepdaughter, Stephanie Flanery.
Ricky lived together with his wife and her two daughters in Brown County, Texas. At 6:30pm on May 22, 1993, Ricky noticed that his stepdaughter, who had gone for a walk several hours earlier, was missing. After searching for her himself for three hours, Ricky called the police. Three days later, Stephanie’s lifeless body was found in a ditch. A month later, Ricky was indicted for capital murder based on the discovery of human blood and an ax in the family car.
Ricky’s first attorney, Pete Gomez, initially agreed to represent him for $14,000.00, but then changed his mind and asked for $200,000.00. When Ricky said he couldn’t afford that, Gomez refused to take his case. McGinn’s second attorney, Robert Spence, was appointed by the trial court. He died in a car accident just days before Ricky’s trial was set to begin. Ben Dowl Suddereth, Ricky’s third attorney was only given a few days to prepare for trial. In the end, the jury deliberated for only forty-five minutes (including a lunch break) before sentencing Ricky to death.
Ricky McGinn’s case is a good example of how poorly the Texas criminal
justice system operates. Like dozens of others on Texas’ death row,
Ricky fell through the cracks of an indigent defense system that George
W. Bush continues to under-fund and ignore.
Governor George Bush, Jr.
PO Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711
(512) 463-2000-phone
(512) 463-1849-fax
www.governor.state.tx.us
Department of Corrections
Attn: Jim Rust
PO Box 1748
Austin, TX 78767
(512) 708-4960-phone
Executive Clemency Board
Attn: Gerald Garret
Price Daniel, Sr. Building
309 W. 14th Street, Ste.500
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 406-5200-phone
(512) 467-0945-fax
For More Information:
Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
3400 Montrose Blvd., Suite 312
Houston, TX 77006
David Atwood–Contact
713-520-0300–Phone
[email protected]
