It appears that the Tennessee Department of Corrections, after a hidden and secret process, has released new execution protocols today. TDOC has decided to stay with the same three drug cocktail that it always used, just cleaning up the edges of the problem. Even though a study last week revealed that this exact cocktail often basically amounts to torture, the department has decided that it is the "humane" way to execute someone. When we remember the gruesome botched executions (that used this protocol) in Ohio, Florida, and California, we know just how wrong they are!

You can check out more complete coverage by the Tennessean here.

So it doesn't matter what news station you tune into tonight, you should see a story on extending the Governor's moratorium! Two hours ago, TCASK held a press conference with Sister Helen Prejean, along with leaders of the Nashville faith community and family members of murder victims who oppose the death penalty. The group presented a letter to the Governor signed by nearly 200 faith leaders from all across Tennessee, calling on the Governor to extend his current moratorium until a complete study of Tennessee's death penalty system (which is broken according to the American Bar Association) can be completed.

And check out pictures of the event (courtesy of TCASK official photographers, Harry and Karan Simpson) here.

Deadly Silence, the Phillip Workman clemency film, is now on U-Tube. Check it out here. It's also on the NCADP Blog.

Today's Tennessean carried an article detailing a recent scientific investigation into lethal injection. The study found that current protocols across the country may amount to torture! Has the Department of Corrections read this report? We don't know. Are they consulting proper medical experts? We don't know. But hopefully, with the Nashville Scene's victory in court we will at least get to find out.

But how much does the Governor need to hear? He knows that there hasn't been an independent and open review of execution protocols! He knows that the American Bar Association has found Tennessee's death penalty to be so broken that they've called on him to extend his current moratorium! He knows that hundreds of Tennesseans have called and emailed him over the last week calling on him to extend his moratorium until a full study (like HB 2162/SB1911 calls for) can be conducted! And on Monday he'll hear from Sister Helen Prejean and faith leaders across Tennessee, including Bishops of the Catholic and Episcopal churches, the president of the IMF, and Baptist ministers, that people of faith do not want to see a broken system continue to operate!

How much more does the Governor need to hear?

As you can imagine, things are hectically busy, as we prepare an open letter to the Governor with hundreds of endorsers across the state and a press event with Sister Helen Prejean to present the letter on Monday! All at the same time as we work to pass our study legislation and prepare for the possible execution of Phillip Workman in less than two weeks! But the media isn't sleeping on the job either!

Today, the Nashville Scene carried a terrific story on the Governor's current position as he refuses to extend the moratorium. Check it out.

Also, on the bright side, Tennessee has one less death row inmate today! The Court of Criminal Appeals has overturned the death sentence of Ricky Thompson. The Chattanooga Times- Free Press has the story.

And, of course, you can check out the Scene's comment on the ruling in their favor to turn over the relevant information on the DOC's review of the executions protocols.

And don't forget to take action online to call on the Governor to extend the moratorium and forward the action alert to all your friends and family!

Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman of Davidson County has ruled this morning in favor of the Nashville Scene's request for document pertaining to the development of new lethal injection prodecures by the Department of Corrections, which has so far worked to stifle the paper's request and to refuse the public any knowledge of how the state intends to carry out executions.

The Nashville Post has the story here.

In one week, the Governor's temporary moratorium on executions will come to an end. On that same day, the House Judiciary Committee will consider the study commission bill. And one week later, Phillip Workman will be executed, despite strong evidence that he did not fire the shots that killed Lt. Oliver and therefore is not, according to the Tennessee Supreme Court, guilty of a capital crime.

Today the American Bar Association released its assessment of the Tennessee death penalty system. The report details a huge number of injustices and flaws in Tennessee's death penalty system and calls for a moratorium on executions until they can be addressed.

• Racial and geographic disparities plague Tennessee's death penalty


• DNA evidence does not have to be preserved at all stages of the process


• Tennessee sentences people with severe mental disabilities to death


• Problems with inadequate defense counsel persist.


• There are inadequate mechanisms for examining claims of factual innocence.

The release of this report is extremely well-timed as we being our own push to ask the Governor to extend the moratorium. You can join in the action by clicking here to send an email and fax to the Governor calling on him to extend his moratorium, and you can forward the action page to all of your friends!

Take action now!

As we look to hire an organizer here in the TCASK state office, one of the big questions I always ask applicants is, "What is the difference between an activist and an organizer?" Basically, what is an organizer's goal? There are a lot of possible answers, but, for me, an organizer works to make themselves obsolete by empowering the people they work with to take effective action on their own.

Governor Phil Bredesen has traditionally been a big proponent of open government, but it seems like the Governor has gone back on his own principles when it comes to life and death. Almost three months ago, the Governor made a moral and brave decision to revamp the state's execution protocols, which he referred to as "sloppy." Yet since that time, there has been no openness in the government whatsoever. The Governor directed Department of Corrections Commissioner George Little to update the procedures, but there has been absolutely no way for the public to have any information about what is happening! Put simply, we don't know who is being consulted, what new execution protocols may involve, who will be carrying them out, etc.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press had an article today talking about tomorrow's hearing of the death penalty study bill. Hamilton County D.A. Bill Cox is quoted as saying he supports the legislation which is great news! People across the spectrun are realizing that the death penalty system in Tennessee is deeply and seriously flawed and needs to be looked at! And once again, the Paul House case is mentioned.

One quick note, the bill will be heard by the House Subcommittee on Civil Practice and Procedure tomorrow, not the Senate Judiciary.

Read the entire article here.

It's pedal to the metal time in the Tennessee General Assembly! And for the first time, TCASK has the possibility of actually passing legislation, in this case legislation to create a study commission to bring to light the deadly flaws in Tennessee's capital punishment system.

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.

It's interesting how many issues intersect with our abolition work. This action item has been sent out from the NCADP in Washington, D.C. and I thought that I would pass it along to our blog reading activists!


Dear Friends:

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), of which NCADP is a member organization, is planning an unprecedented effort to encourage the Congress to grant voting rights to the District of Columbia, and NCADP has been asked to take part in the grassroots and legislative outreach components. On April 16th, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, along with DC Vote, numerous coalition partners, and the Office of the Mayor, will host what they hope to be the largest demonstration for D.C. voting rights in history.

Our support for this effort is based on the fact that we have an interest in assuring that the people of the District of Columbia, who have overwhelmingly demonstrated their opposition to capital punishment, have a vote on this issue in the House of Representatives. Some of you will remember that in 1994, NCADP and other organizations led a successful effort to defeat a referendum to reinstate the death penalty in D.C.. That referendum had been mandated by a law passed by Congress to place the measure on the D.C. ballot.
There are two ways you can make your voice heard for voting rights and LCCR has laid out both options, just click the links below:
If you live in the District or will be near the District on Monday, April 16, please click here:
http://civilrightscoalition.org/campaign/votingrightsmarch

If you live outside the District, please click here:
http://civilrightscoalition.org/campaign/passthedcvra

It is not often that we will call on people to help in an effort that is not directly death penalty related, but this is such a watershed issue and the anti-death penalty heritage of the DC citizens makes this effort extraordinarily important.

Thank you again for your support...

Please read your TCASK Abolition Update email today. PLEASE!

Yes, it's true that the Tennessee Department of Corrections needs to know that one paltry hearing with almost no warning or notice is not enough to allow Tennesseans to truly have input on a process as serious as our state killing a person (see previous posts here, here, and here). But that's not the reason that I want you so desperately to read your email.

Honestly, the reason is because I hate computers. Now Stacy and I are not computer people, but we have some terrific volunteers who help us out with all stuff techy. Joe Irrera has done an amazing job creating a database for TCASK which allows us to send out targeted email blasts, sort our list by legislative district, or geographic area, or anything. But we are having huge troubles getting our email program working. And we can never seem to get an e-blast out properly.

So last night, we were at it again. We started the email program and went out for a dinner meeting, only to return to find both office computers crashing. So there I was, a little after 8:00 at night and having to restart and resend and try ensure that we don't send the same email to someone 3 or 4 times.

Eventually, the wonderful James Staub joined me (James knows so much more about computers than I do that it's staggering) and tweaked and tugged at the machies until we finally got all the emails out. But by that time, it was about 12:30 or so. And without James, I might never have gotten home last night!

So, please read your email and take action to ensure that we get a real public hearing (that the public actually knows about in advance). And please know that, if your emails aren't formatted properly, or you're getting double emails, or sometimes none at all, we certainly are trying! Hopefully, we will very soon have all of this figured out and we can concentrate on those other things - like the pesky little details of actually abolishing the death penalty!

(As a funny aside, I had tried to include some pictures with this post, but, for some reason, I cannot get my computer to properly upload them. Ah, irony.)

Tomorrow will be Catholic Day on the Hill and pushing for legislation to conduct a full study of Tennessee's death penalty will be on the top of the agenda. The most recent edition of the Tennessee Register focuses strongly on the death penalty. The article on the upcoming day on the hill events leads off talking about our study legislation. And an editorial (on page 14 - you can view the entire Register here) also calls for the passage of our bill.

The Catholic Public Policy Commission is one of TCASK's most important legislative partners. Tomorrow, representatives will hear from hundreds of Catholics about why this bill is important. And they've already heard it on the NAACP's lobby day, NAMI Day on the Hill, and Justice Day on the Hill. The more voices raised against this unjust policy, the better!

Well, the Governor did it. He had a hearing, so he's all about "open government," to talk about the execution protocols. Of course, TDOC did it on the afternoon of Holy Thursday, a time at which I'm usually already fasting and was on my way out of town. I didn't hear anything about it until Tuesday afternoon and I didn't see it in the papers until Wednesday, the day before!

And of course the other question is how is the public supposed to comment on a protocol that we haven't seen yet? Is it designed by doctors? I don't know. Has it been reviewed by independent experts? I don't know. Will the completed protocols be available for meaningful review before we carry out an execution (Phillip Workman is scheduled to die on May 9th)? I don't know. But I doubt it.

And really, this should be a no brainer. A good piece in The City Paper, "Take Time Deciding Ultimate Penalty," today makes this point. No one should be in favor of carrying out executions in an inhumane manner. Florida is taking this process seriously and has had a number of serious hearings and discussion about the process. Why can't Tennessee have some real hearings, with a fair amount of warning in advance and a chance for people all around the state to make comments and share their concerns.

TCASK PRESS RELEASE:

There is potentially some interesting news here.

CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” which airs at 10 p.m. East Coast time (check your local listings) is expected to air an investigative piece on Cameron Todd Willingham tonight.

Many of you will recall that Willingham – one of four people featured in NCADP’s report, “Innocent and Executed: Four Chapters in the Life of America’s Death Penalty” – was executed in Texas three years ago despite evidence that the fire that took his children’s lives was accidental, not intentionally set. The Chicago Tribune (which this month or next month might be winning a Pulitizer Prize for its death penalty reporting in Texas) broke the story about the faulty arson science behind Willingham’s conviction. You can read their story here.

We do not know at this time whether the CNN report will include any new information. Also, be advised that the report could very well be bumped if there is breaking news of any sort (Iraq, Alberto Gonzales, Anna Nicole Smith, etc.)

Yesterday at 3:00 p.m., a public hearing was held by the Tennessee Department of Corrections to get feedback on execution protocols in Tennessee. Until yesterday, the process of revising the protocols had occurred behind closed doors. The first that the TCASK office heard of this hearing was late Tuesday afternoon with the meeting scheduled to be held on Thursday. After some investigation, I was told that the Department had invited a variety of people to speak, including lawyers, medical personnel, and pharmacology experts. I had hoped for a hearing which provided information as to the inhumane-ness of the lethal injection protocol while also highlighting the state's lack of transparency and truncated time frame of only 90 days to fix a protocol that, by the Governor's own admission, is "sloppy" at best.

Upon arriving at the hearing, only two invited speakers were present, attorneys Kelly Henry and Mike Passino, who did an outstanding job of outlining the dire consequences of closed meetings without sufficient time for the Department to accomplish the task that they were given. No medical or pharmacological experts testified. Rev. Joe Ingle and Harmon Wray both spoke. Rev. Ingle spoke to the history of lethal injection, including the renunciation of the process by the man who created it for the state of Oklahoma, as well as referencing the association with the Third Reich who first utilized the procedure in concentration camps. Harmon Wray, when asked by Commissioner Little to speak only to the protocols, reminded all of us that Jesus was not concerned about protocols.

The hearing lasted less than an hour. TCASK did have several members present at the hearing, along with lawyers and some media. Unfortunately, the lack of notice given for this most important meeting did not allow us the time we needed to truly organize the way that we would have liked. As a pastor, my stomach felt sick as I sat in a room on Maundy Thursday, the day Jesus ate his final meal, to discuss how the state can strive to more humanely take a human life.

Furthermore, last night, John Seigenthaler interviewed Governor Bredesen on his PBS show One on One with John Seigenthaler about the issues facing Tennessee. With the courageous spirit of a true journalist, Mr. Seigenthaler asked the Governor about the current moratorium, to which the Governor responded that he believed that the commission could get the job done by May 2 in order that future executions be carried out in a "dignified" manner, executions such as that of Philip Workman scheduled in Tennessee on May 9th.

How on earth does the state kill a human being in a way that is dignified? There is nothing dignified about murder. Furthermore, Mr. Seigenthaler asked the Governor about the Paul House case to which the Governor replied that he wanted the courts to work it out, though the courts have not granted House justice in this case for over 20 years. And, even with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that "no reasonable juror would have lacked a reasonable doubt" in this case, Paul House is still on death row.

On this Good Friday, as Christians reflect on the execution of Jesus, I hope that all of us will renew our commitment to end the inhumane practice of state killing, the same practice that took the life of Jesus and threatens to take the life of thousands within our nation, some of them innocent people. As Good Friday services are occurring this evening, I hope that those attending will remember human beings who are languishing on death rows, facing the same fate as Jesus at the hands of a state which chooses to usurp the role of God.

This week represents the Christian celebration of Holy Week, leading up to Good Friday (the day of Jesus Christ's execution) and Easter (the day of his resurrection). It should come as no surprise, then, that my own mind, more than ever, has turned to the state's decision to kill. But instead of boring you all with my own reflections, I thought that I would point out some more profound thoughts published in The Tennessean over the last two days.

Today, Reverend Joe Ingle, a long-time leader in the struggle against the death penalty, has a very moving piece regarding the decision of the Governor to hold hearings on the "proper" means of killing someone during the week when we remember Jesus' execution. Reverend Ingle writes, "It is also clear how inconsequential the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is to the state of Tennessee that it would actually publicly convene a gathering designed to kill citizens efficaciously in Tennessee during the very week Christians are contemplating the Roman state's killing of Jesus." Read the entire piece here.

At 3:00 today, the Department of Corrections will give the public it's first glimpse into what it is planning for Tennessee's "new and improved" method of executions. Yesterday's paper carried a articulate column by mike Passino calling for a true and open examination of the process, something Tennessee has so far not provided. You can read Passino's column here, and then come and join TCASK from 3:00 - 6:00 in the multimedia room of the Snodgrass Tower at 312 8th Avenue North to demand that the public be given a full opportunity to have input into the process!

When the Governor issued the 90 day moratorium in February, he stated that the current protocols for executions in the state of Tennessee were "sloppy" and needed to be revised. Unfortunately, the revision process to this point has occurred behind closed doors within the Department of Corrections, without vital input from the public. Even Florida's pro-death penalty Governor, Jeb Bush, recognized the importance of an open process in scrutinizing execution protocols and set up a public commission to do the work in Florida, a commission which held at least five hearings open to the public.

However, in today's Tennessean, an article by Shelia Burke, announces that an open, public hearing will be held on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. in the multimedia room of the Tennessee Snodgrass Tower, 312 8th Avenue North. Doctors and lawyers representing inmates on death row will be among those invited to speak.

This meeting is an important one for those of us who believe that the execution protocols in Tennessee are inhumane and that the Governor's current moratorium on executions should be extended past the May 2 deadline. 90 days is not enough time to address all the problems with the execution protocols, particularly considering major issues such as the appropriate dosages of the three chemicals used in the lethal injection process are currently not even written down. However, we should not stop with the execution protocols, but instead, continue the moratorium in order for a full study of the entire death penalty system to be conducted. If such problems exist in the protocols, how much greater must the problems be system wide?

If you are able to attend this meeting, I hope that you will. We need for officials to understand that people care about this issue. We need them to understand why the process must be open. We need them to allow enough time for a thorough examination of the protocols to occur. It is a matter of life and death. I hope to see you on Thursday.

TN better brace itself, because it doesn't know what's about it hit it! Shujaa Graham arrived late last night. He'll be speaking at MTSU this morning, Tenn State tonight, and doing an interview in a story about Tennessee's push for a moratorium tonight. Then tomorrow, Shujaa will be addressing the Black Caucus of the Tennessee General Assembly and American Baptist College.

In 1973, Shujaa was convicted for the murder of a prison guard in California, and in 1976, after all black jurors were excluded from the jury, Shujaa, and African-American man, was sentenced to death. It took three more years to get Shujaa's death sentence overturned, and several more years before a fourth trial finally exonerated Shujaa and he was freed in 1981. Shujaa now serves on the board of directors of the Journey of Hope, which is where I was privileged to meet him for the first time last fall.

I would like to tell you that Shujaa's experience is unique, but, sadly, it is not. Shujaa is just one of the 123 men to be exonerated from death rows in America in the modern era (about 1 exoneration for every 9 executions in the same time period). More than half of those people were people of color, and Shujaa is also not unique in being a person of color tried before an all white jury. In Tennessee, a full quarter of the African-American men sentenced to death in Tennessee have been sentenced by all-white juries. This includes Erskine Johnson, convicted in Memphis (with a population roughly 50% African-American) of a 1985 murder, despite the fact that he was in St. Louis at the time. Johnson's death sentence has been overturned, but he is still serving a life sentence for a crime that he, in all likelihood, did not commit. And let's not forget Paul House.

I'm sure that Shujaa's visit will help us call attention to the deadly flaws in Tennessee's capital punishment system. Keep you eyes on news channel 2 tonight or tomorrow for Shujaa's story!