TAKE ACTION: CONTINUE THE TIME-OUT ON EXECUTIONS! - FLORIDA

CALL TO ACTION!
Subject: TAKE ACTION: CONTINUE THE TIME-OUT ON EXECUTIONS!


*Please forward and post widely*

Dear friends,

Late last year, executions in Florida were put on hold because of the flawed
process of lethal injection. Now that a government commission has reviewed the
lethal injection process (www.fadp.org/news/gs-20070302/), Florida needs to
continue the time-out on executions and review the entire death penalty system
and all of its flaws.

YOUR involvement is critical to halt executions and study the capital punishment
system!

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THREE THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY:
Choose one, or all three if you can!
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1. Write letters, emails, and call Governor Charlie Crist to tell him to
maintain the current time-out on executions and do a thorough study of the death
penalty. (See AP article below about the need for communication with Crist)

2. Sign up to receive future action alerts and news from Floridians for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) at www.fadp.org/esubscribe.html

3. Forward this alert to a friend (or five!) and have them contact Governor
Crist too!

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COMMUNICATIONS WITH GOVERNOR CRIST

Each one of us can make a difference! This is about quantity. Short letters
(even 2-3 sentences) are great! See talking points below for ideas.

ADDRESS:
Gov. Charlie Crist
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399

PHONE: 850-488-7146
FAX: 850-487-0801

EMAIL: Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com

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TALKING POINTS:
Pick what resonates with you--

Thank you for launching an Open Government study of the method and protocols of
lethal injection and the circumstances involving the December 15th execution of
Angel Diaz. It is clear that the protocols need to be rewritten, and any
process moving forward should ensure that the new protocols are thoughtfully
developed and properly vetted through a public process that allows the citizens
of Florida to understand clearly this uniquely serious action that the State
takes.

Lethal injection involves a medical procedure and should be overseen by
well-trained medical professionals.

Florida’s Death penalty lawyers are untrained and under funded. The performance
of appointed lawyers in Florida has been criticized on numerous occasions,
including by the Florida Supreme Court. Some lawyers have little or no
experience in death penalty cases and do not raise the correct issues in trials.

Since 1973, 123 death row inmates have been released after evidence proved they
were innocent, including 22 in Florida. We need to figure out what's gone wrong
in these cases so we do not risk executing an innocent person.

The death penalty in Florida costs $51 million a year above and beyond what it
would cost to sentence defendants to life without the possibility of parole.
Can we really afford such a wasteful system? And aren't our valuable tax
dollars better spent on a measures that would prevent violent crimes?

To be meaningful, justice should be swift and sure. The death penalty is
neither. Capital punishment prolongs pain for victims’ families, dragging them
through an agonizing and lengthy process that holds out the promise of one
punishment in the beginning and usually results in a life sentence in the end
anyway.

Since 1979, when Florida reinstated the death penalty, none of the 60 executed
have been white defendants who killed black victims, and although numerous
commissions and task forces have studied and made recommendations to address
racial and geographical bias in Florida’s death penalty law, few of those
recommendations have been implemented.

The American Bar Association assessment report found that Florida’s system is
plagued with problems that can lead to wrongful convictions, such as access to
DNA testing, the preservation of evidence, and eye witness identification
procedures, including lineups and interrogation procedures that increase the
likelihood of false confessions.

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AP Article outlining the need for communication to Governor Crist:

February 27, 2007

OHIO - In one of the nation's busiest death penalty states, letters to Ohio Gov.
Ted Strickland are running almost 5-to-1 in favor of ending capital punishment
or temporarily stopping it to study the system.

Strickland supports the death penalty, but almost immediately after taking
office, he delayed the executions of three condemned killers while he reviewed
their cases.

The decision resonated in Ohio, where former Gov. Bob Taft let 24 executions
proceed with little hesitation.

An Associated Press review of correspondence Strickland received since his
election and running through Feb. 15 found 125 letters or e-mails from death
penalty opponents.

...In FLORIDA, newly elected Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican and death penalty
supporter, has received only 22 letters and e-mails split evenly between capital
punishment backers and opponents.

"I wouldn't say we felt like it was high or low," Crist spokeswoman Kathy Torian
said.

Florida executed 21 inmates under Crist's predecessor, Republican Jeb Bush.

The state has a temporary moratorium on executions while a commission studies
whether changes are needed in the way the state carries out the death penalty.

Bush created the commission after December's botched execution of Angel Nieves
Diaz, who survived for more than a half hour after being given two doses of the
lethal injection drugs.

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Mark Elliott
Director, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, FADP.org
mark@fadp.org

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
2840 W. Bay Drive, #118
Belleair Bluffs, FL 33770-2620
"The time is always right to do what is right." Martin Luther King