TN DEATH PENALTY BLOG
We are traveling through Tennessee's heartland and highways, meeting folks and starting conversations about our death penalty.
Previous Posts
- From the National Coalition to Abolish the Death P...
- Burning the Post Midnight Oil or Why I Hate Email
- The Catholics Move Against TN's Death Penalty
- Get Real!
- Shelby County Commission Calls for a Moratorium
- CNN Tonight!
- Good Friday Reflections
- Holy Week and Executions
- An Open Process?
- Shujaa Graham in TN!
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, April 16, 2007
6th Circuit Lottery
The Enquirer, out of Cincinnati, had an in-depth piece in this Sunday's edition regarding the manner in which U.S. Sixth Circuit Appeals Court (which handles Tennessee death row appeals) deals with death penalty cases. The story prominently features the Paul House case.
The conclusions of the article should scare anyone. Inmates live or die based solely on what random drawing of a three judge panel they receive. For instance:
That's what happened last year when two Ohio inmates sought to delay their executions so they could join an appeal challenging lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment. Jerome Henderson won his case in a 2-1 vote, but Jeffrey Lundgren went before a different panel and lost 2-1.
Lundgren was executed.
That's what happened last year when two Ohio inmates sought to delay their executions so they could join an appeal challenging lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment. Jerome Henderson won his case in a 2-1 vote, but Jeffrey Lundgren went before a different panel and lost 2-1.
Lundgren was executed.
You can read the whole story here.
This article once again demonstrates how broken the death penalty system is in Tennessee and across the co
untry. How can anyone claim that "justice is being done" when people literally live or die based on the luck of the draw? And for all those death penalty supporters out there who say that we need to get rid of these liberals who clog up the system, just think about Paul House, who the U.S. Supreme Court ruled no reasonable jury would convict, overruling the 8 Republican appointees who ignored the unbelievable preponderance of evidence pointing to his innocence!
untry. How can anyone claim that "justice is being done" when people literally live or die based on the luck of the draw? And for all those death penalty supporters out there who say that we need to get rid of these liberals who clog up the system, just think about Paul House, who the U.S. Supreme Court ruled no reasonable jury would convict, overruling the 8 Republican appointees who ignored the unbelievable preponderance of evidence pointing to his innocence! 
