I am really bummed that 34 didn’t pass.
This is a no-brainer guys. Capital punishment in California needs to end.
It makes me sad. Only 13 have been executed since 1978 and the death sentences keep getting overturned.
Lord convert the hearts and minds of men.
I feel really guilty that I haven’t been keeping up with Death Penalty Information Center as much as I usually do, but life seemed to get away from me because of university studies and jobs and life.
There are currently 3,170 prisoners on death row in the United States. California, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Alabama have the top five largest death row populations in the country. 32 have been executed this year, all by lethal injection, a third of which have been in Texas.
There are 13 upcoming executions in 2012:
October 18: Anthony Haynes, Texas
October 24, Bobby Hines, Texas
October 28-3: Bonald Moeller, South Dakota
October 31: Donnie Roberts, Texas
November 6: Garry Allen, Oklahoma
November 8: Mario Swain, Texas
November 8: Hubert Michael, Pennsylvania
November 14: Brett Hartmann, Ohio
November 14: Ramon Hernandez
November 15: Preston Hughes, Texas
December 4: George Ochoa, Oklahoma
December 11: Roy Ward, Indiana— stay likely
December 12: Rigoberto Avila, Texas
John Ferguson was scheduled to die tomorrow, but was granted a single stay of execution. His case is currently pending. He has a history of severe mental illness and should be in a secure psychological ward in a prison, not on death row.
As early as 1965, court records indicated that Ferguson was having “visual hallucinations.” One doctor said Ferguson “did not know right from wrong nor the nature and consequences of his acts.” A psychological diagnosis in 1975 warned that Ferguson “has a long-standing, severe illness which will most likely require long-term inpatient hospitalization” and that he was “dangerous and cannot be released under any circumstances.” Ferguson was released the following year and committed a series of murders. Now, 35 years later, he is scheduled to be executed on October 18
Anthony Haynes, who is scheduled to die tomorrow, was 19 when he killed an off-duty police officer in Houston. He had no priors and his lawyers failed to introduce mitigating evidence. He has a history of mental health problems. His father, a retired Assistant Chief Investigator for the Houston Fire Department, is asking for clemency.
The death penalty clearly against the pro-life teachings of the Catholic Church, and Catholics must do all they can to help end this abhorrent practice. If you live in California, the death penalty will be on the ballot this November, and please think about voting to end it.
PENNSYLVANIA RESUMES STATE EXECUTIONS
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is planning to execute Terrance “Terry” Williams on October 3, 2012 despite staunch opposition from the victim’s widow, five jurors from the trial, faith leaders, former prosecutors and judges, mental health professionals and others. The Pennsylvania Pardons Board voted 3 to 2 for clemency. However, a unanimous vote is needed to recommend that Governor Corbett commute Williams’ sentence to life imprisonment. The governor has until October 3rd to make a final decision, but he told The Philadelphia Inquirer that right now he is preparing to go ahead with the execution. If the Williams’ execution takes place, it would be the first in 13 years. Only three people have been executed since Pennsylvania reenacted capital punishment in 1978 - two in 1995, the last in 1999 - and only because all three ended appeals and asked for death. Corbett has signed 20 execution warrants since taking office with three more executions scheduled to take place this year. A stay is likely for two of the individuals; however, the fate of Hubert Michael scheduled to die on November 8th is uncertain at this time. Pennsylvania has 204 inmates on Death Row. The fourth highest in the country! Increasingly states across the country have been enacting laws that replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole. California, the state with the largest number of inmates on death row, will vote on a referendum in November to abolish the death penalty. It is time that Pennsylvanians follow suit and demand that their state abolish this barbaric and immoral practice.
US Federation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, facebook
