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gerome campbell



COMITATO “3 LUGLIO 1849”
COMMITTEE “3rd JULY 1849”
e-mail  giusticlaudio@inwind.it

FORLI’ 5 MAGGIO 2003

 

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From NCADP

http://capwiz.com/ncadp/issues/alert/?alertid=1934256

 

Jerome Campbell, Ohio
May 14, 2003

 

IL TESTO IN ITALIANO E’ IN FONDO

 

The state of Ohio is scheduled to execute Jerome Campbell, a black man, May 14 for the murder of 78-year-old John Henry Turner in Cincinnati. According to the state, Campbell broke in to Turner’s apartment and stabbed him in the chest, chin, and wrist before fleeing the scene on Dec. 23, 1988. This is a possible innocence case, built on notoriously unreliable sources of evidence, including testimony from jailhouse informants and eyewitnesses, as well as a circumstantial link later proven false by DNA testing. The Ohio Adult Parole gave Gov. Taft a favorable clemency recommendation May 2, and the governor should accept it and commute Campbell's sentence.

At trial, the state’s version of the Turner murder revolved around three key witnesses and a sample of blood found on Campbell’s shoe. Flaws in all of these sources of evidence have since surfaced, yet the state of Ohio has refused to address the injustice of Campbell’s conviction.

In hindsight, the witnesses who testified for the state against Campbell were, by all reasonable standards, far from reliable. Here are some brief descriptions of their contributions to the case and their obvious motivations:

1) Ronys Clardy – Facing up to 40 years for aggravated robbery while out on parole, Clardy testified that Campbell had confessed to the Turner murder while the two were serving time at the Hamilton County Justice Center. Although the state claimed Clardy was not receiving a deal for his testimony, prosecutors mysteriously dropped their case against him shortly after Campbell’s trial. They said they could not locate Lawrence Ulmer and McKinley Boone – the two necessary witnesses – to testify against Clardy, and therefore had no case. A Cincinnati newspaper found the two quite easily; apparently prosecutors never looked them up in the local phone book.

2) Angelo Roseman – Facing up to 15 years on a theft charge, he testified that Campbell had admitted killing Turner to him as well. His served a 180-day sentence in exchange for his testimony. To add to the injustice of both jailhouse informants’ testimony, the state denied that the two men had received breaks for their cooperation.

3) Donna Roberts – The supposed “eyewitness,” Roberts did not actually see the crime, but simply placed Campbell in the area of Turner’s apartment on the night of the murder. This evidence, if true, is not a very big deal, considering it was also Campbell’s own neighborhood. The state said Roberts provided Campbell’s name, which evidence has proved never occurred; Roberts, in fact, only identified him as “Burnt Face” after police investigators showed her a picture of him. The scars on Campbell’s face, results of burns he suffered at age 5 when caught in a fire, apparently caused some people in the neighborhood to call him “Burnt Face.”

The other suspicious part of Campbell’s conviction was the use of his bloodstained shoe. At trial, the state presented the shoe belonging to Campbell, attempting to show that he had tracked the victim’s blood from the murder scene. DNA testing later indicated that the blood was in fact his own. The state then said that the blood was not relevant to the case.

Campbell has maintained his innocence throughout his 14-year stay on death row, and has refused to negotiate any plea bargains. He recently wrote: “I will never apologize for something I didn’t do, and if that means I’ll die, then I’ll die with my dignity intact.” He argues that his death sentence is a result of unreliable testimony, prosecutorial misconduct, and ineffective counsel. He claims that even during the penalty phase of his trial, his attorneys did an exceptionally poor job of researching the facts, and barely mentioned his personal history of mental trauma as a result of his burns.

The Parole Board has recommended clemency for Campbell.

PLEASE, WRITE  IN YOUR OWN LANGUAGE TO:

 

Cincinnati Enquirer

E-mail: letters@enquirer.com
Web Site: www.enquirer.com/today/
Phone: (513) 721-2700
Fax: (513) 768-8340
Address:
2055 Reading Road
Cincinnati, OH  45202-

 

The Cincinnati Post

E-mail: postedits@cincypost.com
Web Site: www.cincypost.com
Phone: (513) 352-2000
Fax: (513) 621-3962
Address:
125 East Court Street
Cincinnati, OH  45202-

 

Cleveland Free Times

E-mail: letters@freetimes.com
Web Site: www.freetimes.com
Phone: (216) 321-2300
Fax: (216) 321-3685
Address:
1846 Coventry Road
Suite 100
Cleveland, OH  44118-

 

Columbus Dispatch

E-mail: letters@dispatch.com
Web Site: www.dispatch.com
Phone: (614) 461-5000
Fax: (614) 461-7580
Address:
34 South Third Street
Columbus, OH  43215-

 

 

 

Il 14 maggio l’Ohio metterà a morte Jerome Campbell.

La sua condanna fu ottenuta grazie a testimonianze molto dubbie. Una donna lo vide nel quartiere dove era avvenuto il delitto, ma il quartiere era lo stesso dove viveva Campbell. Poi due carcerati giurarono che aveva confessato di essere il colpevole. Alla giuria però non fu detto che in cambio ne ricevettero sostanziose riduzioni di pena. Sulle scarpe di Campbell furono trovate delle macchie di sangue dello stesso tipo di quello della vittima e questa venne considerata una prova schiacciante, ma, quando il test del DNA dimostrò che il sangue era di Campbell, la Procura affermò che la prova non era poi così importante.
La situazione è tale che la Commissione per il perdono ha, per la prima volta, proposto al Governatore di concedere la grazia a Jerome Campbell.

 

SCRIVETE ANCHE SOLO DUE RIGHE IN ITALIANO.

 

Può darsi che qualcuno di voi sia finito per sbaglio nella mia rubrica.
Some of you can receive my letter by mistake.

PASS IT ON!

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