TN DEATH PENALTY BLOG
We are traveling through Tennessee's heartland and highways, meeting folks and starting conversations about our death penalty.
Previous Posts
- Getting the Word Out
- it's a crapshoot...
- And Looking Good Doing It
- In Limbo
- cautiously optimistic: injunction stops alley exec...
- planning for a homicide....
- Bringing in the Big Guns
- sedley alley's case on fox 17 news tonight...
- killing sedley alley: prosecutorial misconduct and...
- They ARE Paying Attention
Links
- Abolish the Death Penalty Blog
- Amnesty International Death Penalty Blog
- Asia Death Penalty Blog
- For Victims, Against the Death Penalty
- The Real Cost of Prisons Blog
- Uncommon Sense on the Death Penalty
- National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
- Death Penalty Information Center
- Citizens United Against the Death Penalty
- Murder Victims Families for Human Rights
- Google News: TN death penalty
Contributors
Monday, May 15, 2006
"We're sorry, that mailbox is full."
If you called the Governor's office around 10:00 last night, that's the message you might have heard, and for good reason. From across Tennessee, hundreds of citizens were calling Governor Bredesen with the same message, "When there is DNA evidence available, we should test it, so please, do the reasonable thing and grant a temporary reprieve for Sedley Alley and release the evidence to the Innocence Project for testing."
You can see the story that News Channel 2 did on our efforts here:
http://www.wkrn.com/node/23103#top
Sadly, there was a more complete story as the lead on the 10:00 news last night, but, so far, I haven't been able to locate it.
In either case, a quick shout out to Amy Staples, James Staub, Kathryn, Luke, and Ann Lea, Gina Guirguis, Michelle Baier-Lambert, Beth Hiland, Carolyn Hughes, Richard Goode, and Steve Dunning, who all joined TCASK for phone banking last night and called hundreds of TCASK supporters to ask them to call the Governor.
And it's not too late. If you couldn't get through last night, or didn't get a chance to call Governor Bredesen, give him a call this morning at (615) 741-2001 or 532-4562 or email him at phil.bredesen@state.tn.us. And don't worry if the phone is busy or the mailbox is full. He's just listening to 1000 people ask for a temporary reprieve for Sedley Alley!
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He's also listening to at least one person (me) who called to ask the governor to uphold the Alley conviction.
To be fair, I don't think anyone is asking the Governor to overturn anything at this point. We're simply saying, when we have DNA evidence that can provide clear scientific proof of guilt or innocence, it only makes sense to test it before we execute someone. Why risk executing an innocent person when we don't have to?
to overturn anything at this point.
Well, Wayne Christensen over at Pith In The Wind is now asking for us all to request a commutation of Alley's sentence.
I can't help but feel that the DNA testing is a baby step on the way to commutation. I see two possible outcomes for the Alley group and the TCASK organisation:
1) There is every possibility that the twenty-one year old DNA evidence has degraded to the point where it will not prove Alley's guilt. This would be immediately followed by a demand for Alley's release or at the very least a commutation of his sentence. It's a defence parlour trick to establish reasonable doubt in this age of CSI-crazed pop culture.
2) Should the DNA evidence point credibly to Alley's actual guilt, the defence and TCASK will renew its objections to the sentence based on the constitutionality of the sentence.
Frankly, the two "maybes" floated by the Alley/TCASK camp (DNA and TOD/alibi) are far outweighed by the mountains of evidence gathered against Alley, and he should be held accoutable for his crime.
Well, Wayne Christensen over at Pith In The Wind is now asking for us all to request a commutation of Alley's sentence.
I can't help but feel that the DNA testing is a baby step on the way to commutation. I see two possible outcomes for the Alley group and the TCASK organisation:
1) There is every possibility that the twenty-one year old DNA evidence has degraded to the point where it will not prove Alley's guilt. This would be immediately followed by a demand for Alley's release or at the very least a commutation of his sentence. It's a defence parlour trick to establish reasonable doubt in this age of CSI-crazed pop culture.
2) Should the DNA evidence point credibly to Alley's actual guilt, the defence and TCASK will renew its objections to the sentence based on the constitutionality of the sentence.
Frankly, the two "maybes" floated by the Alley/TCASK camp (DNA and TOD/alibi) are far outweighed by the mountains of evidence gathered against Alley, and he should be held accoutable for his crime.
most people grasp, i think, that serving life without the possibility of parole or a life sentence (in tennessee this means your first parole hearing is in 51 years) does in fact, hold someone accountable ... but let's hold off on nthis discussion and use the available technology to shed light on what is currently an unreliable conviction...
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