Take Action!
Below are the latest action requests from FADP.
If you
have any questions, please e-mail fadp@fadp.org
CONTENTS:
Current Florida Execution HOMICIDE
Warrants:
Click
here to learn about public protests planned for your area!
Click here
to download a petition you can circulate to help stop these three pending
death warrants!
*****
Amos King is scheduled to be poisoned to death in the name
of the people of Florida on January 24, 2002 in revenge for his alleged
murder of Natalie Brady. Mr. King has always maintained his
innocence.
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) is
concerned about King's assertion that important evidence was never
properly developed or brought to light during his trial. Further, Mr. King
has been seeking to have a new appellate attorney appointed, or in the
absence of a new attorney, a paralegal, to assist him in pursuing his
legal claims.
NEW!
 Read Amos King's January 2nd hand written letter
to Jeb Bush requesting mitochondrial DNA testing done by a Lab
recommended by the Innocence Project at <http://www.oranous.com/florida/AmosKing/amostojeblet.htm>
Florida Governor Jeb Bush has again signed a death warrant
for an inmate who has not had all of his issues heard in court, and who in
fact is not represented by an attorney with the prisoner's best interests
in mind. Please write a brief and courteous letter to Governor Bush asking
that he stay the execution of Amos King until Mr. King is granted an
attorney who will represent him in an unbiased manner, and until there is
absolutely no doubt about his guilt. Please send a copy of your letter to
your local newspaper.
Write to the Governor of Florida:
Governor Jeb Bush
The
Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Telephone: (850)
488-4441 or
FAX (850) 487-0801
E-mail: fl_governor@eog.state.fl.us
Alternate
e-mail: Jebbush@jeb.org
If you are writing from outside of Florida, please send a
copy of your letter to:
The Tallahassee Democrat
Letters to the
Editor
P.O. Box 990
Tallahassee, FL 32302
(850)
599-2173
Fax: (850) 599-2295
<tdedit@taldem.com>
If you are writing from within Florida, please send a copy
of your letter to your local news paper(s), along with a letter to the
editor marked "for publication." (You might also try simply marking your
letter to Jeb! "for publication," and perhaps they'll run that! As always,
FADP requests that if your letter is printed, please send us an original
of the full page on which the letter appears, to the address shown
below.
Write a note of support to Amos King at:
Amos King
#036275
Union Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 21, P5
225 S, A1
Raiford, FL 32083
USA
****
Linroy Bottoson is scheduled to be poisoned to death in the
name of the people of Florida on February 5, 2002 in revenge for his
murder of Catherine Alexander. Mr. Bottoson does not dispute his
guilt.
Linroy Bottoson's case illustrates some of the chronic
failures that have plagued Florida's death-penalty system for decades: the
barriers to adequate representation, the complications of mental illness
and the injustices of a flawed prosecution.
Bottoson's crime was ugly. He was convicted of kidnapping a
74-year-old woman, holding her captive for three days, stabbing her 16
times and then running over her with his car. But Bottoson's case has
never been clear-cut, and even with the delays, the questions surrounding
his sentence left the Florida Supreme Court sharply divided as recently as
1996.
For one thing, Bottoson was represented in his original
1981 trial by a young, inexperienced lawyer who knew little about
presenting a capital defense. At the time, the state mandated fee caps
that discouraged seasoned lawyers from defending inmates. Under the flat
$2,500 cap, Bottoson's trial lawyer was paid the equivalent of $13 an
hour.
Bottoson got what the government paid for. Despite
convincing evidence of Bottoson's long history of mental illness that
could have persuaded a jury and judge against a death sentence, the young
lawyer failed to raise the issue at trial. The lawyer explained to the
judge that he could not afford to call witnesses, noting that "it all
boils down to the fact that the county, the state (and) the Legislature
(have) placed restrictions on my ability to conduct a meaningful defense
on behalf of Mr. Bottoson."
Bottoson's direct appeal was denied three years after his
sentence.
Facing his next level of appeals, Bottoson was at a
disadvantage. The state had not yet created the current system of
state-funded post-conviction lawyers for death-row inmates, and Bottoson
did not have a lawyer. At the urging of the American Bar Association,
Orlando lawyer James Russ, a sole practitioner, agreed to take Bottoson's
case for free. He filed the next appeal in accordance with the deadlines.
Then, according to Russ, nothing happened. The trial judge remained silent
for nearly 10 years until he finally agreed to hear Bottoson's claims that
his trial lawyer was inadequate, that a nationally respected dog handler
called as a key witness by the state was later revealed to be a fraud and
that Bottoson's long history of paranoid schizophrenia should disqualify
him from execution.
In 1996, a divided Florida Supreme Court rejected the
appeal. A strong dissent written by Justice Gerald Kogan and signed by two
others took the state of Florida to task for its notorious record of
denying death-row inmates adequate counsel. Kogan said Bottoson's
inexperienced trial lawyer and his pathetic fee resulted in a "clear and
unmistakable deficiency in performance."
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is
concerned that yet again, Florida's death penalty will be used on a
mentally ill man who had insufficient legal representation.
Write to the Governor of Florida:
Governor Jeb Bush
The
Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Telephone: (850)
488-4441 or
FAX (850) 487-0801
E-mail: fl_governor@eog.state.fl.us
Alternate
e-mail: Jebbush@jeb.org
If you are writing from outside of Florida, please send a
copy of your letter to:
The Tallahassee Democrat
Letters to the
Editor
P.O. Box 990
Tallahassee, FL 32302
(850)
599-2173
Fax: (850) 599-2295
<tdedit@taldem.com>
If you are writing from within Florida, please send a copy
of your letter to your local news paper(s), along with a letter to the
editor marked "for publication." (You might also try simply marking your
letter to Jeb! "for publication," and perhaps they'll run that! As always,
FADP requests that if your letter is printed, please send us an original
of the full page on which the letter appears, to the address shown
below.
*****
Robert Trease is scheduled to be poisoned to death in the
name of the people of Florida on February 7, 2002 in revenge for his
murder of Paul Edenson. While Mr. Trease has never admitted his guilt, he
has clearly grown tired of living in prison. Last May he asked a judge to
allow him to waive his appeals, in effect asking the state to help him
commit suicide. Governor Jeb Bush, who has helped two other death row
inmates commit suicide, was only too happy to assist Mr. Trease.
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) would like to know
why the ONLY time Jeb Bush is willing to give anything to a prisoner is
when that prisoner wants to be killed?
FADP is also very concerned that according to media reports
Trease's former girlfriend and partner in the crime, Hope Siegel, has been
released from prison after serving less than five years of a 20 year
prison sentence for her role in crime. According to press reports, Siegel
scheduled a date with Edenson at the car dealer's home -- part of a plan
hatched so Trease could rob the wealthy man. During the course of the
robbery/murder, Siegel got a gun from her pickup truck, and later, a knife
from the kitchen.
Whatever the truth is in this case, FADP believes that
prisoners should not have a say in how their punishment is doled out. In
fact, prisoners sentenced to death are being allowed to take the easy way
out, unlike the vast majority of convicted 1st degree murderers, who must
live out their lives in prison.
Write to the Governor of Florida:
Governor Jeb Bush
The
Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Telephone: (850)
488-4441 or
FAX (850) 487-0801
E-mail: fl_governor@eog.state.fl.us
Alternate
e-mail: Jebbush@jeb.org
If you are writing from outside of Florida, please send a
copy of your letter to:
The Tallahassee Democrat
Letters to the
Editor
P.O. Box 990
Tallahassee, FL 32302
(850)
599-2173
Fax: (850) 599-2295
<tdedit@taldem.com>
If you are writing from within Florida, please send a copy
of your letter to your local news paper(s), along with a letter to the
editor marked "for publication." (You might also try simply marking your
letter to Jeb! "for publication," and perhaps they'll run that! As always,
FADP requests that if your letter is printed, please send us an original
of the full page on which the letter appears, to the address shown
below.
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death
Penalty
800-973-6548
http://www.fadp.org
PMB 297
177 U.S. Hwy #1,
Tequesta, FL 33469
(800)
973-6548
fadp@fadp.org
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