Press Release
OPPOSITION TO DEATH PENALTY ON THE RISE
Anti-Death Penalty Activists Speak Out Across the State
Today, FADP announces that activists in seven Florida cities will
stage simultaneous, peaceful protests in opposition to the scheduled
execution of Bennie Demps. Demps is scheduled to be killed at
6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 7, 2000, in revenge for the killing of
Alfred Sturges. (Please see attached background information.)
"We are sending a clear message in this election year that
Floridians have had enough violent death! We want real
solutions to violent crime. Execution is NOT the solution. We
must stop teaching our children that killing is a way resolving
problems," said Abe Bonowitz, director of FADP.
Glaring inequities exist in the application of the death penalty,
and Florida leads the nation in wrongful convictions. For
example, the Demps case raises serious fair trial and innocence
issues. FADP was established to provide a forum for Floridians
to educate themselves and others, and to let policy makers know that
"tough-on-crime" rhetoric is not acceptable.
"We are asking legislators to offer preventative solutions to
violent crimes, instead of simplistic, vengeful responses,"
said FADP board member Carolyn Gray.
***FLORIDIANS FOR ALTERNATIVES TO THE DEATH PENALTY (FADP) is a NEW
state-wide organization, which was formed to raise awareness about
how the death penalty is actually practiced, and to organize
activism for alternatives to the death penalty.***
SCHEDULED EVENTS
The Tallahassee Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty will hold a
press conference on Wednesday at 10am. Tallahassee
abolitionists will hold a vigil at the Capital Rotunda at noon on
Thursday, should Demps be killed as scheduled. Contact:
Walter Moore: 850-877-1698
SIMULTANEOUS VIGILS ARE PLANNED for 5pm to 6:30pm on Wednesday, 7
June 2000 at the following locations:
Florida State Prison at Starke Gainesville Citizens for Alternatives
to the Death Penalty Contact: Rev. Glenn Dickson: 352-378-4032
Jacksonville (Location to be announced.)
Contact: Karen Jefferson: 800-237-2774 x-8284
The County Courthouse in Miami South Florida Committee Against the
Death Penalty
Contact: Len Kaminsky: 305-754-9884
The County Courthouse in Orlando
Contact: Ben Markeson: 407-263-7768
The County Courthouse in Tampa
Contact: Elke Leinwand: <Ladybug779@aol.com>
The County Courthouse in West Palm Beach
Contact: Abe Bonowitz: 561-743-8878
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Mr. Demps' current stay of execution runs out at 5:00 p.m.
Wednesday, June 7th, and he can be executed immediately after the
stay is lifted. The state of Florida plans to kill Mr. Demps
at 6 p.m. on June 7th.
BENNIE DEMPS' CASE
Mr. Demps has always maintained his innocence of this offense.
No physical evidence connects Mr. Demps to the murder of Alfred
Sturges.
Suppression of Exculpatory Evidence:
The homicide for which Mr. Demps was condemned occurred on September
6, 1976. The following day, Cecil L. Sewell, Chief Prison
Inspector and Investigator, wrote an official report to the
Secretary of the Department of Corrections, summarizing what the
victim had said about his assailant before he died. Sewell
wrote: "[The victim] named James Jackson, B/M, #029667,
as his assailant."
Obviously, this report is highly exculpatory of Bennie Demps, and
would have been extremely important evidence for his trial counsel
to put before the jury. However, at trial, correctional officer A.
V. Rhoden testified that the victim had made a dying declaration to
him, naming James Jackson, Harry Mungin, and Bennie Demps as his
assailants. Rhoden's report is missing, and has been missing
since before trial. Appellate courts reviewing Mr. Demps' case
have consistently said that no evidence contradicts Officer Rhoden's
testimony. This indicates the critical importance of the
Sewell memo, which flatly contradicts Officer Rhoden's testimony.
Although the state is obligated by law to turn over all exculpatory
evidence, the Sewell report was said to be "lost" by the
state when it was specifically requested by Mr. Demps'
attorney. It was finally turned over to Demps' attorney after
22 years had passed, buried among hundreds of pages of
documents. The supression of the Sewell report, and the
request that the contents of that report be considered, are the
basis for Mr. Demps' current appeal.
The suppression of crucial exculpatory evidence renders Mr. Demps'
conviction highly unreliable and is a fundamental violation of his
rights.
Questionable Eyewitness Testimony:
A prisoner, Larry Hathaway, testified that he witnessed
Jackson, Mungin, and Demps commit the murder. Hathaway also
testified that he had received no consideration for his
testimony. However, it is clear from letters written by
Hathaway and the authorities that he received a promise of
assistance in his request for parole in exchange for his testimony
against Mr. Demps. Mr. Hathaway has a long history of mental
problems, and he is currently confined in the prison psychiatric
hospital at Union Correctional Institution. He recently wrote
to the Governor about Mr. Demps' case, alleging that organized crime
has a $5 million contract on his life, and that Senators Edward
Kennedy, John Kerry, and Gary Hart are involved in his case.
A PATTERN OF MISCONDUCT:
Under the modern death penalty statute, at least six men, including
Bennie Demps, have received death sentences for the homicides of
prisoners committed in Florida State Prison and Union Correctional
Institution, prisons located in the Eighth Judicial Circuit in rural
north Florida. None of the other cases has withstood appellate
scrutiny. The use of perjured testimony in two cases (Willie
Brown, Larry Troy), suppression of exculpatory evidence in two
(James Agan, Bobby Lusk), and grossly ineffective representation by
defense counsel in one (Richard Williams) resulted in the reversal
of all these sentences. Willie Brown and Larry Troy are among
the 21 condemned people in Florida exonerated as wrongfully
convicted. These facts strongly indicate a pattern of
misconduct in the investigation and prosecution of prison homicide
cases in the Eighth Judicial Circuit. Not surprisingly, there
is evidence of the same type of misconduct in Mr. Demps' case, as
described
above.
A PATTERN OF ABUSE:
The authorities whose testimony supported the convictions of Mr.
Demps and the other prison homicide defendants are from the same
institution where officers recently testified that death row inmate
Frank Valdez beat himself to death, breaking every one of his own
ribs by jumping off his bed. The reaction of the authorities
at Florida State Prison to the death of Frank Valdez indicates
their lack of credibility.
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP)
800-973-6548 http://www.fadp.org <fadp@fadp.org>
PMB 335, 2603 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Hwy, Gainesville, FL 32609
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty works for
restorative
justice in the form of effective alternatives to the death penalty.
It
does so by:
- supporting and coordinating the work of organizations and
individuals
- educating and energizing the general public and state
legislators
- supporting the many persons affected by capital crime and
punishment
- advocating specific legislative improvements
Note: For fiscal & legal purposes, FADP is a project of CUADP until FADP is incorporated as
it's own entity. |
