NCADP   
1436 U Street,   
NW Suite 104   
Washington DC    
20009   

888-286-2237   
[email protected] 

Mark Gardner (AR) 
Sept. 8, 1999…9:00pm (EST) 
 
Mark Edward Gardner is on death row in Arkansas for the 1985 murders of Joe and 
Martha Joyce and their daughter, Sarah McCurdy. 

There is very little information available on Mark’s case at this time.  What is clear, however, simply from reading the decisions which comprise Mark’s appellate history, is that the post-conviction representation he received up until 1996 was atrocious. 

After denying one of Mark’s petitions, the United States District Court for Arkansas said the following: “This court feels, after careful review of petitioner’s various claims, that the bulk of those claims are meritless, generally unsupported by the facts or case law, or undeveloped beyond a passing reference in the petition for habeas corpus…It is unfortunate and ironic that the efforts of those wishing to prevent the death penalty from being administered have provided persuasive evidence which justifies tying the hands of federal courts which might otherwise be able to prevent its unjust use.” 

These words speak volumes about the need for states to dedicate more funds toward ensuring that every condemned inmate has a fair shake in his or her post-conviction appeals. 
 

William Sullivan (DE) 
Sept. 24, 1999…9:00pm (EST)  
 
“I am sorry for killing Mr. Dodd, and if you could find it in your heart to forgive me, I would appreciate it,” said Willie G. Sullivan at his sentencing hearing in 1992.  Willie, an African-American, was sentenced to death for the murder of an elderly white man in 1991. 

There is a litany of mitigating circumstances in Willie’s case.  For starters, he suffers from a slew of mental impairments.  Brain damage limits his ability to understand, communicate and exercise logic, and a personality disorder hinders his ability to handle the impulses and emotions associated with stress.  He functions at the mental level of a nine year old child.  Psychologists for the defense testified that if he received proper treatment, Willie could becompletely rehabilitated. 
 
While she was pregnant, Willie’s mom drank heavily.  As a result, Willie suffered from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), and affliction which can lead to permanent intellectual, social and neurological defects.  In Willie’s case, FAS led to both an Attention Deficit and a Hyperactivity Disorder. 

When Willie was only eight years old, his father died.  Family members report that Willie never really recovered from the shock of that event. 
 
Knowing that his client was guilty, Willie’s public defender felt confident that he could prevent a death sentence by entering a guilty plea and fighting it out with the prosecution in the sentencing hearing on the strength of these mitigating circumstances.  Unfortunately, he was wrong. 
 
Delaware has never granted a condemned inmate executive clemency.  Please contact Governor Carper and let him know that he would be hard pressed to find an inmate more deserving of mercy than Willie Sullivan. 
 

Thomas Provenzano (FL) 
Sept. 14, 1999…12:01am (EST)  
 
If Florida gets its way, Thomas Provenzano will be the second person to be executed in Sparky II, the state’s new electric chair.   Thomas was convicted of the 1984 murder of an Orange County Courthouse bailiff, Arnold Wilkerson. 

Thomas’ trial was unfair from the start.  The court failed to grant him a change of venue for trial, forcing him to be tried in the courtroom where the crime was committed.  Despite the fact that the Supreme Court of Florida recognized that “the courthouse shooting and Provenzano’s arrest received extensive publicity in Orange County” it rejected the notion that the trial jury may have been partial saying that “pretrial publicity is expected” and “does not necessitate a change of venue.” 
 
Further, the defense pointed the trial judge to several mitigating circumstances in Thomas’ case including the absence of a significant criminal history, failure to appreciate the criminality of his actions, and killing while under the influence of extreme mental and emotional disturbance.  According to the trial judge, there was only sufficient evidence to support the first mitigating factor.  This, despite the fact that five psychiatrists testified for the defense in regards to Thomas’ mental and emotional state at the time of the crime. 
 
Demand Justice for Thomas Provenzano!!  Please do not allow the state of Florida to kill another human being.  Thomas was denied a fair trail and deserves justice. 
 

Feltus Taylor (LA) 
Sept. 9, 1999…7:00pm (EST)  
  
Feltus Taylor was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for killing Donna Ponsano in 1991.  Donna was white, Feltus is Black, and the Baton Rouge jury that sentenced him to death was completely void of African-Americans.  This, despite the fact that one-third of the population of Baton Rouge are people of color. 
  
Feltus’ family history shows that he was abandoned by his biological mother at a very young age.  He was soon adopted, but his situation did not improve.  His adoptive parents divorced when Feltus was still a young child.  After the divorce, he was cared for by his maternal grandmother. 
  
Because school was a constant struggle for Feltus, he was referred to a mental health clinic in the tenth grade.  Tests revealed that he was operating at the same level a child in fourth grade.  Feltus received no follow-up treatment, and decided to quit school before finishing his sophomore year. 

Psychiatric evaluations completed before Feltus’ trial indicate that he is of borderline intelligence.  The Supreme Court of Louisiana noted from the trial record that Feltus suffers “from Dysthymia, a disturbance of mood that consists of depressive symptoms, and from a borderline personality disorder which is manifested by unstable intense relationships, impulsivity and dramatic mood swings.” 
 

David Leisure (MO) 
Sept. 1, 1999…1:01am (EST)  
  
On the 31st of August, a candlelight vigil will be held outside the Potosi Prison in Missouri to protest the execution of David Leisure, scheduled to take place just minutes after midnight on September 1st.  Together with his cousins, Paul and Anthony Leisure, David was convicted of murdering James Michael Senior in a 1980 car bombing. 

David is mentally disabled with an I.Q. in the low 70’s, making him the perfect fall guy for his cousins and an easy target for St. Louis prosecutors.  He was the only one sentenced to death for his role in the crime despite the probability that he had the least to do with it.  He was too obese to fit under the model car he was supposed to have bombed.  

At trial, David received “representation” so inadequate it literally bordered on being criminal.  His court-appointed defense attorney had never tried a capital case in his life — not that it really mattered given the fact that a law clerk admittedly abusing cocaine and heroine at the time did most of the work on David’s trial.  This pathetic excuse of a defense team left many stones unturned – including the testimony of several witnesses who could place David somewhere else at the time of the car-bombing. 

David’s case has been able to slip through the cracks of Missouri’s court system unchecked by any federal court.  He is yet another victim of the 8th Circuit’s retroactive application of the 1996 Effective Death Penalty Act.  Please contact Governor Mel Carnahan and let him know that executive clemency is the only means of preventing a grave miscarriage of justice in David Leisure’s case. 
 

Harvey Lee Green (NC) 
Sept. 24, 1999…2:00am (EST)  

Harvey Lee Green was sentenced to death after pleading guilty to the 1983 murders of Sheila Bland and John Edmondson. 

Harvey is black and both his victims were white.  When he and his attorney looked at the jury box after voir dire was complete, they were staring into a sea of white.  Using peremptory and cause 
challenges, the prosecution had successfully excluded all but one African-American from the jury.  
Facing this unsavory prospect, Harvey agreed to forgo the guilt phase of his trial.  He pled guilty, 
and rolled the dice in the sentencing phase.  Not surprisingly, he was sentenced to death. 

Hope was restored on appeal.  Harvey’s attorney’s successfully challenged the biased jury selection process based on the Supreme Court’s Batson decision.  The North Carolina Supreme Court remanded Harvey’s case for Batson hearings twice.  When Harvey challenged his sentence on Batson grounds a third time, the State finally conceded defeat.  A new sentencing hearing was ordered, but Harvey lost again and was sentenced to death. 

Had Harvey faced a jury of his peers after voir dire, going to trial might not have looked like 
legal suicide.  As things currently stand, Harvey may die because he was intimidated into forsaking 
his right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. 
 

Raymond James Jones (TX) 
Sept. 1, 1999…7:00pm (EST) 
  
Raymond James Jones sits on Texas’ death row for the 1988 murder of Su Van Dang. 

Raymond was examined by Doctor of Psychology Jerry Landrum prior to trial.  Dr. Landrum found that Raymond was “within the borderline mentally retarded range of intellectual abilities.”  Dr. Landrum testified further that Raymond was “significantly limited” in his understanding of surrounding events. 

Raymond has never denied his role in this terrible crime.  Without your help, he will become 
just another name on the long list of mentally retarded inmates executed by the state of Texas.  

Willis Barnes (TX) 
Sept. 10, 1999…7:00pm (EST) 

Willis Barnes was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering an 84-year-old Houston woman in the course of a burglary in 1988.  The key evidence at the trial was a videotaped confession in which he admitted burgling the house, but claimed — implausibly — that the killing occurred accidentally. 

Barnes’ confession was wrung from him during 19 hours in custody in which he was barely allowed to sleep, interrogated for 10 hours, and briefly led outdoors without shoes during a chilly February. 

Barnes also claims that he invoked his right to remain silent prior to the questioning, although the statement appears to have been ambiguous.  However, the federal circuit court has refused to review the issue because, under the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the ruling in Texas’ state court must be presumed valid. 

William Davis (TX) 
August 14, 1999…7:00pm (EST) 

William Davis has been awaiting execution longer than almost anyone else in Texas’ notorious Harris County “death mill.”  He has spent half his natural life on death row, since being convicted at age 21 of murdering a store manager in the course of a gunpoint robbery in 1978. 

Davis’ crime, while horrible, is hardly the “worst of the worst” stuff that compassionate conservative politicians are wont to rail against when drumming up support for the ultimate sanction.  The evidence — including Davis’ immediate confession after arrest, and his subsequent trial testimony — indicates that Davis intended to commit a robbery, and committed the murder in a panic when the manager started approaching him. 
  
Although his guilt was hardly in doubt, his sentence was won more on the strength of the state’s linguistic trickery than the heinousness of his act. 
  
Texas imposes a two-pronged test to determine sentencing:  first, whether the defendant caused the death “deliberately” or with reasonable expectation that life was being endangered; and second, whether there is a probability that the defendant would pose a continuing threat to society. 
  
Prosecutors affirmed the first point essentially by arguing that deliberation was immanent in the fact that he pointed the gun and pulled the trigger, basically making the entire question redundant with the guilt phase of the trial.  Davis’ defense failed to object to this, and even though appellate decisions subsequent to the trial have definitively separated the two, courts will not review the issue as pertains to Davis. 
  
On the second, the prosecutor wrongly instructed the jury, again without eliciting defense objection, that proof of future dangerousness was not required beyond a reasonable doubt.  Meanwhile, the prosecutor told the jury that Davis’ youth must not mitigate considerations of future dangerousness, even forcing prospective jurors to agree to this notion before he let them on the jury.  Incredibly, the defense did not object to this either, even though the heart of its strategy was to portray Davis as contrite and capable of growth and redemption. 
  
Appeals on the issue of ineffective counsel were predictably dismissed by the state courts.  Davis’ attempt to appeal to the 5th Circuit Court has been rejected because it missed a deadline, although the court pointed out with some irritation that the state had allowed his filing to go ahead a full year late before raising objection, noting that “Timing rules work both ways:  if the state wants to kill a man because his filings are not on time, it should raise that issue promptly.” 
  
District Judge Hughes’ opinion is actually worth reading; although it finds against Davis on all points, it tartly denounces the death penalty and makes clear that the judge has no relish for condemning Davis. 

Rickie Wayne Smith (TX) 
Sept. 21, 1999…7:00pm (EST) 

Rickie Wayne Smith, a drug addict since childhood and a career criminal, was sentenced to death in 1993 for the slaying of a convenience store clerk in a robbery.  Apparently high at the time of the murder, he claimed he couldn’t remember committing it although he admits that security cameras implicate him. 
  
His primary appeal claim — and it is a weak reed — is that the trial court improperly permitted victim-impact testimony as to the good character of the victim, who was also a dedicated special 
education teacher.  Although victim impact statements are permitted in Texas, they are not supposed 
to alter the sentence by encouraging a “comparative analysis of the worth of the victim” — a plainly 
untenable legal fiction.  The prosecutor told the jury during sentencing: 
  
“You will remember who [the victim] is.  A special education schoolteacher, a very loving person, a very giving person, who gave and gave all of her life to the extent that she even worked an extra job so that she would have the money not only to carry on her own personal needs, but to provide that little bit extra for those special education students that she had at Lamar Elementary School. This is a woman, like I say, there’s no evidence she did anything but good.” 
  
Although appellate courts have found that evidence concerning the victim’s character was improperly permitted by the trial court, they have ruled it a “harmless error” which did not influence the outcome of the trial, an increasingly typical occurrence as courts have come under pressure to accelerate executions. 

Lonnie Weeks was sentenced to death in October of 1993 for the early-morning shooting 
death of a Prince William County trooper during a routine traffic stop earlier that year.  Weeks 
and his uncle had been pulled over for speeding in a stolen car. 

Weeks’ case is illustrative of the coercive power of police interrogation.  When arrested 
several hours after being picked up and questioned as a potential witness, the 20-year-old was 
advised of his right to remain silent and promptly invoked it.  Later that day, after being held in a 
cell for 10 hours, Weeks was interrogated while manacled by the same police officer who 
arrested him.  Prior to questioning, he was asked if he “remembered” the rights he had been read 
earlier; he answered in the affirmative, and after being falsely told that an eyewitness had 
identified him as the shooter, promptly confessed. 

In denying his appeal, the Virginia Supreme Court applied a five-point test to the 
interrogation, concluding that it was constitutionally sound.  But such legal arcana seems remote 
from the real circumstances of the situation: a young man barely out of his teens, bound hand and 
foot in the presence of authorities, lied to about the evidence implicating him in a capital offense, 
and asked to “remember” and apply rights given after a sleepless night of questioning. 

This spring, Weeks was cited in a Washington Post profile of Virginia death row 
evangelists Bob and Sarah West.  Through their guidance, he has repented his crime and sought 
forgiveness from God.  The question is whether the Commonwealth will be as obliging as the 
Creator. 

Everett Mueller (VA) 
September 16, 1999…9:00pm (EST) 

Everett Lee Mueller was sentenced to death for the 1990 rape and murder of Charity 
Powers. 
 
There are two aspects of Everett’s conviction which smack of injustice.  First, after two 
hours of police interrogation, Everett asked a detective, “Do you think I need an attorney here?” 
The detective shrugged his shoulders and retorted coyly, “You’re just talking to us.”  Several 
minutes later, Everett gave a videotaped confession. 

Secondly, during the penalty phase of his trial, Everett was denied the opportunity to tell 
the jury about an important mitigating factor in his case.  Because of his prior criminal record, 
Everett would never be eligible for parole.  A death sentence was not necessary to ensure that 
Everett would not be a future danger to society. 

Everett never denied the terrible things he did to Charity.  He was very cooperative with 
police, leading them to both the scene of the crime and the spot where he buried Charity’s body. 
There is no information available on Everett’s prison record at this time.