COMITATO
“3 LUGLIO 1849”
COMMITTEE
“3rd JULY 1849”
e-mail giusticlaudio at 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 at 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 at 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 at 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 at 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 at tiscali.it
c/o
DOTT. CLAUDIO GIUSTI
VIA NULLO BALDINI 14, 47100 FORLI', ITALIA
TEL.
39/0543/550867
39/340/4872522
e-mail giusticlaudio at 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