gerome campbell

["Associazione Partenia" <partenia at libero.it>]

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: http://www.enquirer.com/todayay/
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: http://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: http://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: http://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