It is illegal to execute the mentally ill, but laws are selectively ignored. Awkal Abdul is a Muslim man with brown skin and disqualified from whatever criterion one must meet to be spared from capital punishment like wealthy people are and certain police officers who the public has seen kill without provocation on videos. Awkal is scheduled to be executed on June 6, and there are six links in this article.
Youngstown News reports:"Awkal was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. He is reported to have had delusions that included a belief that he managed the U.S. military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that he has been in direct communication with the CIA and Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama." See the entire article at this link to Youngstown News http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/jun/03/inmate-fights-to-avoid-death/?newswatch The reporter reminded readers about Ohio's Romell Broom execution debacle in September 2009. Broom was tortured for hours while executioners tried to find his veins to infuse his body with poison. Broom became so distraught that he started to cry and tried to help the guards find his veins and kill him. Finally, Gov. Strickland stopped the barbaric execution. Brommel's torture was one of the horror stories in my article entitled: "Prison Torture in the USA, by Mary Neal" at this link http://freespeakblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/prison-torture-within-usa-by-mary-neal.html
Experts recently determined that another innocent man was executed.The Atlantic carried the report on May 14, 2012: "Carlos DeLuna was put to death in December 1989 for a murder in Corpus Christi. But he didn't commit the crime." He was killed for a crime done by another Carlos: Carlos Hernandez. To read more about the case in The Atlantic, use this link http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/05/yes-america-we-have-executed-an-innocent-man/257106/
These are the circumstances that We the People permit by allowing capital punishment to continue: (1) Mentally ill people like Awkal are killed, (2) condemned people like Broom are sometimes tortured in horrible acts of barbarism sanctioned by the State and funded by taxpayers, and (3) occasionally, innocent people like Carlos Deluna die. A fourth consideration is that race and class matter in deciding which accused murderers face capital punishment as their penalty. This is partly because poor and working class people are less able to afford good legal counsel. Public defenders continue to be underfunded and overwhelmed by heavy caseloads. All of those circumstances can be eliminated only by repealing the death penalty. Furthermore, Ohio residents likely need the extra money that death penalty cases require.
People who do not want to repeal capital punishment to save lives may be interested repealing it to save money. According to Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), it costs states an average of $70,000 more per year for each condemned inmate than it would cost for the inmate to LIVE in a maximum security prison. This is outrageous, since $70k is more money than most American families of four have as their annual income. It is more humane, fair, and economical to repeal capital punishment like Connecticutt recently did when it became the seventeenth state to say "DEATH TO THE DEATH PENALTY." DPIC offers an audio presentation related to the cost of capital punishment at its online site and this link http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/episode-3-cost
Experts recently determined that another innocent man was executed.The Atlantic carried the report on May 14, 2012: "Carlos DeLuna was put to death in December 1989 for a murder in Corpus Christi. But he didn't commit the crime." He was killed for a crime done by another Carlos: Carlos Hernandez. To read more about the case in The Atlantic, use this link http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/05/yes-america-we-have-executed-an-innocent-man/257106/
These are the circumstances that We the People permit by allowing capital punishment to continue: (1) Mentally ill people like Awkal are killed, (2) condemned people like Broom are sometimes tortured in horrible acts of barbarism sanctioned by the State and funded by taxpayers, and (3) occasionally, innocent people like Carlos Deluna die. A fourth consideration is that race and class matter in deciding which accused murderers face capital punishment as their penalty. This is partly because poor and working class people are less able to afford good legal counsel. Public defenders continue to be underfunded and overwhelmed by heavy caseloads. All of those circumstances can be eliminated only by repealing the death penalty. Furthermore, Ohio residents likely need the extra money that death penalty cases require.
People who do not want to repeal capital punishment to save lives may be interested repealing it to save money. According to Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), it costs states an average of $70,000 more per year for each condemned inmate than it would cost for the inmate to LIVE in a maximum security prison. This is outrageous, since $70k is more money than most American families of four have as their annual income. It is more humane, fair, and economical to repeal capital punishment like Connecticutt recently did when it became the seventeenth state to say "DEATH TO THE DEATH PENALTY." DPIC offers an audio presentation related to the cost of capital punishment at its online site and this link http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/episode-3-cost
It is not likely that Ohio will repeal capital punishment in time to save Awkal. But there is still time for some righteous judge or for the Board of Pardons and Paroles in Ohio to call off the murder of a sick man. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. made a simple request over four decades ago. He said, "All we say to America is, 'Be true to what you said on paper.'" Our law says it is illegal to execute the mentally ill because of their compromised sense of reason. Let us insist that the justice system must obey its own laws. A petition to stop the execution is at this link http://www.change.org/petitions/commute-the-death-sentence-of-abdul-awkal
Thank you in advance for calling and emailing Ohio's justice officials and governor. http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml Use this link for any officials.
A man is about to be executed today. I would protest even if he were not mentally ill, because government officials and systems are too corrupt to have power over who lives and who dies.
Mary NealAssistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
Thank you in advance for calling and emailing Ohio's justice officials and governor. http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml Use this link for any officials.
A man is about to be executed today. I would protest even if he were not mentally ill, because government officials and systems are too corrupt to have power over who lives and who dies.
Mary NealAssistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
Dog Justice for Mentally Ill
1 comment:
I said "there are six links in this article," but I did not count the two in the signature block. Did the stalker leave them visible or take them out? Ordinarily, they turn the links to my blogs gray, which means they coded them somehow. But this time they did not do that. I figure it is because they planned to take advantage of my not counting them and refrain from showing the signature block. I cannot wait to see what they did. These stalkers are so ridiculous. Who does not already know Ohio is executing a mentally ill man today? Everyone who is interested in anti-dp advocacy does, and everyone who reads the newspaper in Ohio and hundreds of thousands of other people. I think the people who hired my cyberstalkers are very wasteful. I am filing a complaint with the U.S. Inspector General. He can find out if the money they are wasting to censor me is our tax money or not. But will he tell us?
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