MANY
THANKS TO EVERYBODY.
NOW,
PLEASE, REMEMBER ABU ALI.
SPLENDIDE
NOTIZIE:
IN MISSOURI LA CORTE SUPREMA HA ANNULLATO LA CONDANNA DI
AMRINE
IN TENNESSEE L’ESECUZIONE DI PAUL DENNIS REID E’ STATA
BLOCCATA.
MOLTI RINGRAZIAMENTI A TUTTI VOI.
ORA, PER FAVORE, RICORDATEVI
DI ABU ALI.
Abu-Ali
Abdur'Rahman, black, aged 51
ITALIANO: IN FONDO ALLA
PAGINA
FRANÇAIS: http://www.chez.com/aibfusa/urgent020410.html
30th
April 2003
We
can stop the machinery of death. We can save Abu-Ali. We must write to the
People of Tennessee and let them know that the death penalty is stupid and
expensive. Even after its first execution in 40 years (Robert Glen Coe in 2000)
Tennessee has big doubts about the fairness of its judicial system, and Abu-Ali
Abdur'Rahman is a handbook case of unfairness.
FROM AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
USA
Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman is scheduled to be
executed in Tennessee on 18 June 2003. He was convicted in 1987 of the murder of
Patrick Daniels, who was stabbed to death in 1986.
International safeguards
require that capital defendants receive adequate representation at all stages of
proceedings, above and beyond that afforded in non-capital cases. The quality of
Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman's representation at the guilt/innocence stage of his trial
has been called into question, and at the sentencing phase - when his lawyers
were supposed to defend him from the death penalty - it patently failed to meet
this standard.
At the sentencing phase, the defence presented none of the
abundant mitigating evidence available. As a child, Abdur'Rahman had suffered
appalling abuse at the hands of his father, a military policeman. This included
being stripped, tied up, and locked in a cupboard; being struck on the penis
with a baseball bat; and being made to eat a pack of cigarettes as punishment
for smoking, and when he vomited, forced to eat the vomit. The jurors were also
left unaware that Abdur'Rahman had suffered serious mental health problems, as
had his brother and sister. His brother committed
suicide as an adult. His
sister attempted suicide many times. Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman has been diagnosed as
suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
In 1998 a US District
Judge overturned the death sentence, writing that Abdur'Rahman had been
'seriously prejudiced by utterly ineffective assistance of counsel at his
sentencing hearing'. He is the only judge to have heard live testimony from the
numerous defence witnesses who were not called at the original trial. He said
the 'overwhelming' nature of their and other evidence 'compels' the conclusion
that the death sentence 'cannot stand'. In Tennessee, only a unanimous jury can
pass a death sentence. If the trial lawyers had presented the mitigating
evidence, the judge wrote, 'there is more than a reasonable probability that at
least one juror would have voted for a life sentence rather than the death
penalty'.
It would seem that he was right. Eight of the nine jurors contacted
by the appeal lawyers now say that they might or would not have voted for death
if they had heard the evidence in question. In his affidavit, for example, the
foreman of the jury states: 'It is my belief and opinion that this evidence
would have made a significant difference in the sentencing phase of the trial.
Further, given the nature of the evidence I would further offer for
consideration that the death penalty be overturned in this case'.
The death
sentence has nevertheless survived the appeal process. In 2000 a three-judge
panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the District Judge's 1998
ruling and reinstated the death sentence. One of the three judges issued a
strong dissent, citing the 'constitutionally inadequate' defence Abdur'Rahman
had received at the sentencing phase.
In January 2002, a Tennessee Supreme
Court Justice noted that even the two Sixth Circuit judges who voted to
reinstate the death sentence 'did not seriously challenge the finding that
Abdur'Rahman had received deficient representation'. He continued: '[I]t
certainly seems inconsistent with visceral notions of fairness and justice that
this state should impose the ultimate and irreversible penalty of death upon a
man whose opportunity to defend himself in court was compromised by the proven
ineptitude of his attorneys.' The state Supreme Court Justice concluded by
stating for the record that Governor Don Sundquist should commute the death
sentence.
In addition, doubts persist as to whether Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman was
the person who actually stabbed Patrick Daniels. The Davidson County prosecutor
mainly relied on the testimony of Abdur'Rahman's co-defendant, Devalle Miller,
to persuade the jury that Abdur'Rahman had wielded the knife. Miller avoided the
death penalty in exchange for his testimony and a guilty plea to second degree
murder, for which he has was paroled after six years in prison. The
unreliability of such testimony is reflected in rules recently adopted by the
Davidson County prosecutor's office: 'The death penalty will not be sought in
cases where the evidence consists of the uncorroborated testimony of a single
eyewitness or of a cooperating codefendant or accomplice'. Under these rules, it
is unlikely that the prosecutor could have sought the death penalty for Abu-Ali
Abdur'Rahman in the first place.
Abdur'Rahman himself does not deny that he
was involved in the crime, but has consistently claimed that he cannot remember
the stabbing itself, a possible sign of a PTSD blackout. Forensic testing found
no blood on a long wool coat he was wearing, despite the bloodiness of the crime
scene. In an internal memorandum before the trial, the prosecutor noted this
forensic report and wrote that 'if the defendant did wear his coat the entire
time he obviously was not present when the stabbing occurred'. However, he did
not make Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman's trial lawyers aware of the report. This is one
of a number of instances of prosecutorial misconduct attributed to him in this
and other cases.
In their affidavits, several of the jurors expressed
concern that they did not know about the forensic report's findings. Studies
have shown that residual doubt about a capital defendant's guilt is the most
powerful mitigating factor against a death sentence in the minds of capital
jurors.
MODEL LETTER FROM AI
BELGIUM
I am writing
to you to express my deep concern over the fate of Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman, due to
be executed in Tennessee on 18 June 2003, for the 1986 murder of Patrick
Daniels. Before going any further, I would like to express my sympathy for the
family and friends of Patrick Daniels.
It seems that Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman's
conviction was made possible only because he did not receive adequate
representation during his trial. At the sentencing stage, his lawyers failed to
produce substantial mitigating evidence, such as the abuse he had suffered as a
child, and his serious mental health problems. Eight of the jurors later
declared that had they heard of such evidence, they would not have voted for
death.
I am also deeply concerned that doubts remain as to Abu-Ali
Abdur'Rahman's guilt. Forensic testing found no blood on the wool coat he was
wearing at the time of the crime. In their affidavits, several members of the
jury claimed that they had not been made aware of these forensic findings, which
would have been a powerful mitigating factor against a death sentence.
Therefore, it seems to me that the jury's sentencing decision cannot, in good
conscience, be relied upon to carry out this execution.
I thank you for
taking the time to read this letter and for giving it all your attention.
Yours sincerely,
PLEASE,
SEND AN ILLUSTRATED POST CARD, IN
YOUR OWN LANGUAGE TO:
The
Tennessean
E-mail: letters@tennessean.com
Web Site: www.tennessean.com
Phone:
(615) 259-8000
Fax: (615) 259-8808
1100 Broadway Nashville,
TN 37203-3116
The Knoxville News-Sentinel
E-mail: letters@knews.com
Web Site: www.knoxnews.com
Phone: (423) 521-1861
Fax: (423)
521-8124
208 West Church Avenue
Knoxville, TN 37902
The Chattanooga Times/Chattanooga Free Press
E-mail: haustin@chattimes.mindspring.com
Web Site: www.timesfreepress.com
Phone: (423) 756-6900
Fax: (423)
757-6383
400 E. 11th St.
Chattanooga, TN 37403
The Commercial Appeal
E-mail: kushma@gomemphis.com
Web Site: gomemphis.com
Phone: (901)
529-2788
Fax: (901) 529-6445
495 Union Avenue Memphis,
TN 38103-3221
The Nashville City
Paper
E-mail: letters@nashvillecitypaper.com
Web Site: www.nashvillecitypaper.com
Phone: (615) 298-9833
Fax: (615) 298-2780
PO Box 158434 Nashville,
TN 37215-8434
Nashville Scene
E-mail: editor@nashvillescene.com
Web Site: www.nashvillescene.com
Phone: (615) 244-7989
Fax:
(516) 244-8578
2120 8th Ave
S Nashville,
TN 37204-2204
Il 18 giugno Abu-Ali
Abdur'Rahman ha un appuntamento con il boia. Noi possiamo fermare la macchina
della morte e salvargli la vita, ma per farlo dobbiamo convincere il Popolo del
Tennessee dell’inutilità e della stupidità della pena capitale. Negli ultimi 40
anni il Tennessee ha ucciso una sola volta (Robert Glen Coe nel 2000) e in tutto
lo stato ci sono ancora fortissimi dubbi sull’equità del sistema giudiziario. Abu-Ali ne è un esempio da
manuale.
Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman è
stato condannato a morte per l’uccisione di Patrick Daniels. Permangono gravi
dubbi sulla sua colpevolezza. La sua condanna è stata ottenuta grazie alla
testimonianza del complice che in cambio se l’è cavata con 6 anni di carcere. La
giuria non venne informata del suo grave stato di salute mentale (afferma di non
ricordare nulla del delitto)e 8 dei 12 giurati hanno dichiarato che non lo
condannerebbero più a morte.
Scrivete una cartolina illustrata agli
indirizzi che troverete sopra.
MA SOPRATTUTTO FATE
CIRCOLARE QUESTO MESSAGGIO
COMITATO
“3 LUGLIO 1849”
Per i diritti umani, contro la pena di morte
Membro
fondatore della World Coalition Against Death Penalty
COMMITTEE
“3rd JULY 1849”
For
human rights, against the death penalty
Founding member of the World
Coalition Against Death Penalty
web site http://www.mhumphrey.com/comitato
e-mail comitato3luglio1849@tiscali.it
c/o
DOTT. CLAUDIO GIUSTI
VIA NULLO BALDINI 14, 47100 FORLI', ITALIA
TEL.
39/0543/550867
39/340/4872522
e-mail giusticlaudio@inwind.it
La
Repubblica Romana fu il primo stato sovrano a scrivere nella propria
costituzione l’abolizione totale della pena di morte, il 3 luglio 1849. Il
Comitato, ispirandosi alla tradizione libertaria ed abolizionista del nostro
Paese, si batte contro la pena di morte e per il rispetto dei diritti umani indicati agli articoli 2 – 21 della Dichiarazione
Universale.
The
Roman Republic was the first state to write in its constitution the total
abolition of the death penalty, on 3rd July 1849. This Committee
follows this tradition fighting against the death penalty and for the human
rights listed in the articles 2-21 of the Universal Declaration of
10th December 1948.