2 20 256 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/6c0592c73db8dee6f00712275d0d563b.jpg 2c031e0106e7cd4d88fd2ce60b52c7a3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gov. Chiles Halts Execution After Witness Recants Description An account of the resource Witness comes forward and claims the Florida Police feed him information while under hypnosis. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Booth, William Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Washington Post Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-06-16 Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Mello_76 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant FL Subject The topic of the resource Death penalty Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Washington Post Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 3, 1995 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Cusumano, Laura Text Any textual data included in the document Miami, June 16- The imminent execution of the killer they call “Crazy Joe” Spaziano, sentenced to death 20 years ago based on the testimony of a hypnotized witness, was halted by Gov. Lawton Chiles (D) this week after the crucial witness claimed he made up his testimony. The governor’s decision highlights the lingering legacy of cases in which “repressed memories” were unearthed by hypnotist and psychologist – a practice that is now widely criticized as too fallible to be used in courtrooms. The case, too has fueled debate over the death sentence. Joseph Spaziano’s case has been reviewed and upheld by the Florida Supreme Court and twice by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Stalled execution of Spaziano, who was convicted in 1975 of mutilating and murdering a young hospital worker two years earlier, has generated tremendous controversy because Spaziano was found guilty based largely on testimony of one man who – two decades later – claims that police and investigators “refreshed his drug-addled teenage memory with hypnosis and essentially planted details of a Spaziano confession in his mind. Tony Dilisio, now 37 and a self-described born-again Christian, told investigators with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement this week that his testimony years ago was essentially fabricated. <br /><br />[image - Joe Spaziano]<br /><br />[image caption - Florida governor will review the case of Joseph 'Crazy Joe' Spaziano.]<br /><br />The videotape of his session with FDLE officers was shown to Chiles and his attorneys. Chiles on Thursday halted the execution scheduled for June 27, and asked for further investigation. The governor has not granted clemency and Spaziano could eventually face the Electric chair for his murder of Laura Lyn Harberts. At Spaziano’s trial Dilisio, then a troubled teenager with a history of LSD and marijuana abuse, told the court that “Crazy Joe” of the Orlando Outlaws biker gang took him to a dump and pointed out the decomposing bodies of two women. “That’s my styles,” Spaziano boasted, according to Diliso’s testimony, pointing at of the women, her breast mutilated. But in an interview with the Miami Herald, Dilisio said: “I remember going there, but not with Joe Spaziano… The police took me.” He asked: “How do I know what I said back then was reliable? Especially if it came out under hypnosis.” Guided by hypnotist Joseph McCawley in 1975, Dilisio fingered Spaziano and later was the prosecution’s star witness. During a second session of hypnosis, McCawley said: “There are certain things bothering you in your subconscious mind. And you’re going to let these come out. You’re kind of purging your system.” When Dilisio remembered only one body at the dump, the hypnotist asked: “Is there another body, with this body that you’re looking [at]? Think this out. It will be easier later, Tony, much easier.” Testimony recounting so-called repressed memories generated by hypnosis has largely been discredited in recent years. The Florida Supreme Court ruled after Spaziano’s conviction that hypnotically induced testimony should be banned from criminal trials, but the ruling did not apply to earlier cases such as Spanziano’s. Spanziano’s attorneys have sought support from experts who decry the practice. In one letter to Spaziano’s lawyers, a trio of scholars, including Richard Ofshe, a University of California sociologist, write: “Mr. Diliso’s testimony was utterly worthless, at best, and more likely dangerously mistaken.” The campaign to save Spaziano from the electric chair was initiated by his attorney, Michael Mello, now a professor at Vermont Law School. In editorial page articles that ran in several Florida newspapers, Mello wrote, “Mr. Spaziano is, I believe in my bone marrow, innocent. This fact makes him unique among my death row clients. When I was a Florida public defender, my caseload was 35 condemned men; in all, I have been closely involved in about 70.” Mello wrote that Spaziano’s jury recommended against the death penalty, mostly because of nagging doubts about his guilt. Yet because Spaziano was a drug abuser and member of the Outlaws biker gang, jurors did not want to see him on the loose. The judge disregarded the recommendation and ordered death. According to Mello, “Crazy Joe” got his nickname for good cause. “You see, Mr. Spaziano is crazy, That’s the truth. It’s a truth that shames and humiliates himself in his eyes.” Spaziano suffered a severe head injury after being run over by an automobile in 1966. At the trial, he had trouble recalling day-to-day details of what he did in 1973. After Chiles and his investigators review the case, they can take several actions, ranging from signing a fifth death warrant to pardoning Spaziano. Even if Spaziano is pardoned for killing of Harberts, he would continue to serve a life sentence for an unrelated rape and mutilation of a 16-year-old girl. Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gov. Chiles Halts Execution After Witness Recants Subject The topic of the resource Death penalty Description An account of the resource Witness claims Florida police planted story in his head using hypnosis. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Booth, William Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Washington Post Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-06-16 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida "Crazy Joe" Spaziano Florida Supreme Court Gov. Lawton Chiles Joseph Spaziano Laura Lyn Harberts Michael A. Mello Richard Ofshe Tony Dilisio US Supreme Court https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/49fe268685b560eea95dd44f6c7c629e.jpg 1d913c434208338ecd4581e1c700d5f9 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/8128a96413fb9d37545af05bcc257536.jpg f21e76fd3f3ef519f2c67c690a8ef933 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 5 Text Text Any textual data included in the document The Feds’ Case Against Kaczynski By William Claiborne and William Booth The Washington Post Sacramento, Calif. – By the time a suspect was apprehended in April of last year, after the most extensive and expensive manhunt ever, the terrorist known as the Unabomber had become one of the most widely known serial killers in history. With the arrest of Theodore John Kaczynski in Montana, FBI agents uncovered a cabin filled with damning evidence, including not only a signature explosive device in the style of the Unabomber, but a draft of his infamous 35,000-word manifesto against technology and diaries providing incredible detail about Kaczynski’s thoughts and actions, material that appears to amount to a virtual signed confession. This trove of incriminating evidence will form the core of the government’s case against Kaczynski when his federal trial begins here with jury selection today. What possible defense will Kaczynski, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, offer? His lawyers appear to be ready to tell the jury that despite all that prosecutors know about the defendant, there is something missing: Kaczynski is mentally ill, they are expected to argue, probably suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. It is a high-risk strategy, yet one that many trial lawyers agree may be the only way to keep Kaczynski, 55, from being put to death if he is found guilty at the end of his trial, which is expected to last at least four months. Kaczynski’s defense lawyers, viewed as highly capable and impassioned, have said little to the press about their trial strategy, signaling only through court documents that they intend to marshal a partial defense arguing that the former mathematics wunderkind-turned-hermit, who according to his family harbored inside him a seething rage, suffered from “a mental defect.” If they do pursue this strategy, it would not be as a traditional insanity defense – excusing the crime because of mental illness. Instead, Kaczynski’s attorneys may attempt to present testimony that would suggest that their client suffered from a so-called “diminished capacity” and therefore was incapable of fully forming an intent to murder and maim. In other words, Kaczynski may have committed the crimes, but his sense of reality was so abnormal, so delusional, that he cannot be held responsible. Kaczynski’s lawyers, too, want the jurors to enter his primitive cabin, trucked more or less in its entirety to Sacramento from Montana, and to experience what his world was like: the tiny dark cell, without electricity or running water, where he lived alone for a quarter of a century, aloof from daily social interactions that, according to his family, so troubled him. “I think it’s pretty clear that the defense is going to introduce the issue of mental disturbance one way or another,” said Paul Mattiuzzi, a forensic psychologist in Sacramento who has testified in other mental-defect cases. “The evidence of mental defect may be important in the guilt phase. But it may be even more valuable in the punishment phase (if he is found guilty) … .” Legal experts agree. “This is what I suspect is really is going on,” said Peter Arenella, a law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles and nationally recognized authority on insanity and diminished-capacity defense. “All sorts of mitigating evidence might be presented to show that he’s a strange bird, not someone we should execute, because he’s crazy as a loon.” Kaczynski was transferred Thursday from the Federal Correctional Facility in Dublin, south of San Francisco, back to the Sacramento County Jail, where he had been held for more than a year after his arrest. He was moved to Dublin in September after complaining of excessive noise and insomnia at the Sacramento jail. Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Michael Nelson said the accused Unabomber, who has abandoned his shaggy, mountain-man beard in favor of a neatly trimmed style, spends most of his time in his single cell quietly reading books from the jail library. “He’s a very prolific reader. He goes through books pretty quickly,” said Nelson. Nelson said Kaczynski’s cell is isolated from the other prisoners and that he is under 24-hour watch. He is allowed out of his cell for an hour of exercise a day in an exercise yard – alone – and is a “model prisoner,” the chief deputy marshal said. Kaczynski’s two lead defense attorneys are Quin Denvir, a federal public defender who has won reversals of three guilty verdicts in death-penalty cases, and Judy Clarke, who convinced a South Carolina jury that Susan Smith did not deserve the death penalty for drowning her two sons in a lake. Smith was sentenced to life in prison. After months of legal wrangling, however, Kaczynski last week refused to submit to examination by the prosecution’s psychiatrists. Such a refusal might serve to bar the defense from offering testimony from its own experts as to Kaczynski’s mental state, but it would not necessarily preclude other witnesses – such as family members, including his brother David, who alerted authorities that Kaczynski might be the Unabomber – from telling jurors they believe that the hermit is mentally impaired. [image – Theodore Kaczynski] [image caption] Kaczynski It is unknown whether Kaczynski’s brother or mother will be called to testify. David Kaczynski has said in interviews that he is tormented by the idea that his decision to turn in his brother to save the lives of other potential victims may end up costing his brother his life. The accused Unabomber has refused to meet with his family since his arrest. In the government’s own trial brief filed with the court last week, prosecutors laid out their case against Kaczynski – and it was clear from the documents that the government will seek to show that Kaczynski was a cold, calculating murderer who sought, in words from his diary, as quoted by the prosecution, to “kill someone I hate” and to gain “revenge on society.” They will attempt to show that the defendant knew exactly what he was doing as he patiently handcrafted his bombs, often with intricate carvings, and picked victims who somehow offended his anti-technology sensibilities. The former mathematics professor at the University of California at Berkeley is charged, specifically, not with murder, but with transporting and mailing explosive devices with the intent to kill and injure. Though the government seeks to prove that Kaczynski is the elusive Unabomber, who over a period of 18 [end page one] [start page two] years beginning in 1978 mailed or placed 16 bombs that killed three victims and injured another 29 persons, he is charged in the Sacramento trial with only four bombings between 1985 and 1995, which resulted in two deaths and two serious maimings. Most damaging to Kaczynski’s defense are voluminous diaries, hand-written journals, experimental logs and an uncompleted autobiography seized in the recluse’s primitive cabin near Lincoln, Mont., when he was arrested on April 3, 1996. A few excerpts from the written material have found their way into the court record, though the bulk of the material has not been made public. During a motions hearing in September, lead prosecutor Robert J. Cleary called the journals “the backbone of the government’s case.” Consisting of thousands of pages, many of them in three-ring binders and some written in Spanish or in an easily deciphered code, the writings include explicit admissions – indeed, prideful boasts in many instances – to each of the Unabomber’s attacks, according to prosecutors. Many of the writings, Cleary said, are innocent entries like “you know, my day in the woods, what I ate for dinner – that sort of thing.” But a smaller set of documents about a foot high contains devastating admissions, Cleary told U.S. District Court Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr., who will preside at the trial. Among other things, the government said, the notes reflect the writer’s experimentation with bomb components, his method of construction of at least seven explosive devices and chilling commentary of the success of his attacks. One journal entry offered by the prosecution was made shortly after the Unabomber’s first fatal victim, computer-store owner Hugh Scrutton, 38, was killed in Sacramento by a device left behind his store. “Experiment 97,” the entry reads, “Dec. 11, 1985, I planted a bomb disguised to look like a scrap of lumber behind Rentech computer store in Sacramento. According to the San Francisco Examiner, Dec. 20, the ‘operator’ … was killed, blown to bits.” Another entry, from 1980, describes the mail-bomb attack on the former president of United Airlines, Percy Wood: “After complicated preparation I succeeded in injuring the Pres of United A.L. but he was only one of a vast army of people who directly or indirectly are responsible for the jets.” Although many of the diary entries referred to in the government’s filings have been edited for tactical and legal reasons, prosecutors said the documents clearly show Kaczynski’s “desire to kill, his joy when he does so and his frustration when he does not.” Since the defense team has already agreed to a stipulation that virtually all the handwritten documents found in the cabin were written by Kaczynski, its efforts at keeping them out of the trial have centered on arguments that they are uniquely personal papers that should be held inadmissible on the basis of the First, Fourth and Fifth amendments to the Constitution. Burrell so far has refused to suppress the diaries, saying that “voluntarily prepared” documents are not protected by the Fifth Amendment even if they are private diaries that are self-incriminating. Michael Mello, a Vermont Law School professor who has consulted with defense attorney Judy Clarke on the issue, said, “They have to (suppress them), because what is so intuitively clear to me, as a keeper of diaries for 15 years, is a logical line of demarcation between diaries and other kinds of papers.” Unlike letters, Mello said, “There is something special about a diary, and there is something especially unsettling to the American spirit in the government sending a man to death … on the basis of his diary.” Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Martin, Kathleen Student Editor of the Digital Item Van Doren, Jamie Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Feds' Case Against Kaczynski Subject The topic of the resource Insanity defense--United States Kaczynski, Theodore John, 1942- Description An account of the resource The defense attorneys for Theodore John Kaczynski, the accused Unabomber, will attempt to argue that their client suffered from "a mental defect" and cannot be held responsible for his crimes. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Claiborne, William Booth, William The Washington Post Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Claiborne, William, and William Booth. "The Feds' Case Against Kaczynski." Valley News, November 12, 1997. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-11-12 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English capital punishment criminal defense Insanity defense Michael Mello Theodore Kaczynski Unabomber https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/3a3f2ab371efbcedbda1e75cd2d2c6e7.jpg 246468f71fe289b3e61bba4dd82d4872 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/15d49b05601869d9675647119a429750.jpg 4c0692b85fc295492882908ee7f79cff Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document A jury's recent verdict acquitting four Los Angeles police officers of using excessive force on a black motorist has drawn a mixed reaction from local police and attorneys. All those interviewed agreed that if one were to judge the men by the infamous videotape, then they were guilty. But some of those interviewed said they did not know what other evidence was presented court, and believed that the jury system should be supported. I'll was not sitting on a jury for seven weeks. All I saw was 83 seconds of a tape," Woodstock Police Chief Byron Kelly said. But, judging from the videotape, Kelly said, "I would have thought they were guilty." Woodstock Attorney Tom Zonay agreed. A former police officer, Zonay believes the officers used excessive force against Rodney King. On the other hand, Zonay said that from the perspective of an attorney, he was obliged to respect the jury's decision. "I am a believer that you have to respect the system and the system sometimes makes decisions that many people are not pleased with," Zonay said. Slate Police Lt, Bruce Lang said this week that "All of us are shocked at the verdict" Lang said the verdict "sends a signal to the public that police officers can get away with that activity. There was no excuse for that." An all-white jury last week acquitted the officers of beating King in March 1991 following a high-speed chase. An amateur videotape of the beating was shown on television stations across the nation, creating an outcry over the tactics police used to subdue King. The verdict led to an orgy of rioting and looting in Los Angeles last week, resulting in the deaths of 58 people. Demonstrations were held in other cities across the United States. These demonstrations sometimes turned into in riots. Locally, a demonstration was staged by students at Dartmouth College. Michael Mello, a criminal law professor at the Vermont Law School, said the verdict was the result of the trial's location being moved from Los Angeles to Simi Valley. While Mello agreed with changing the trial's location, he said Simi Valley was' a poor choice because of its overwhelmingly white population. He said the jury should have been picked from an ethnically diverse area. Mello said the population of Simi was comprised of middle class whites who had fled Los Angeles. The jurors, according to Mello, were more inclined to believe a police officer than a victim of police brutality. Mello cases with the media. In this instance, however, Mello said "This verdict sickened me as a lawyer and as a citizen." Lang, said he too, was surprised that an all-white jury had been picked to decide the case. "I just don't understand that, especially in an area like Southern California," Lang said. Lang has been a police officer in Vermont for 15 years. In that time, he said he has never seen a single case of police using excessive force against anyone. As commander of the Bethel Barracks for the past five years, Lang has only received one complaint about an officer using excessive force to apprehend a suspect. Lang said the person who made the complaint was not the defendant in the case. Lang investigated the complaint and found that the officer was justified in using his nightstick to apprehend the suspect. Lang added that Vermont Slate troopers are taught never to strike defendants above the shoulders. U.S. Rep. Bernard Sanders criticized the 11-year Reagan- Bush presidential "reign" as the underlying cause behind the riots that resulted from the verdict. "During the same period as' the rich were getting richer, lower-income black workers saw their wages drop by 50 percent. The percentage of qualified his statements, saying that besides the videotape, he did not know what other evidence was presented to the jurors. For this reason, Mello said, he usually declines to discuss African-American fathers who did not earn enough at their jobs to keep their families out of poverty jumped from 25 to 40 percent,” Sanders said. He called for a “fundamental change in national priorities. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Verdict shocks Cops, Lawyers Subject The topic of the resource Police brutality--United States Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Brown, Julian P. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992-05-07 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Vermont Standard Description An account of the resource A recent verdict has acquitted four Los Angeles police officers for using excessive force on a black motorist. This verdict has drawn a mixed reaction from local police and attorneys. https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/224480f62d56f5fc96230d320016dcf2.jpg 42f3b1ac17fa930b605e1a279f45ef42 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/85d2cf1352f81834b2c7ff20d8b08fee.jpg 810a54f615ba27aca8883eb2eb3e333d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Magazine Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Burrows, Courtney Text Any textual data included in the document The U.S. Supreme Court rejects a key challenge to capital punishment. In Illinois last week, 105 inmates sat on death row, only one facing a likely execution before 1989. In California, 171 killers waited to walk the Last Mile, but only one is close to going to the gas chamber this year. In Florida, the nation’s largest colony of the condemned held 268; none had a set appointment to die. And even in Texas, where capital punishment has been used most often recently, 250 convicted murderers were just marking time in their cells: the state averages but one execution a month. After 11 years of work, lawyers, courts, and killers have managed to create a system of capital punishment that satisfies no one. Proponents write stern statutes, win convictions and then watch the expanding gridlock on death row. Abolitionists anguish over public opinion and unyielding laws yet succeed in blocking most executions because of flaws in the state’s case or procedures. Families of victims have neither peace nor vengeance; killers, no certain punishment; justice, no resolution. This erratic system appears certain to continue staggering on for at least a few more years despite a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision last week. By a 5-4 vote, the justices rejected a challenge by condemned killer Warren McCleskey to Georgia’s death-penalty practices. McClesky, a black man who killed a white cop, based his claim on a statistical finding that in Georgia, killers of whites were four times more likely to be sentenced to die than killers of blacks. The argument had broad implications: three quarters of the 1,874 inmates on death rows nationally killed whites, so a decision for McCleskey could have arguable barred most executions for the rest of the decade. Writing for the majority, Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. concluded that McCleskey’s numbers alone did not prove enough to validate Georgia’s death penalty. While acknowledging that the statistics “indicate a discrepancy that appears to correlate with race,” McCleskey had no clear evidence that he was a victim of racial bias. “Apparent disparities in sentencing are an inevitable part of our criminal justice system,” Powell wrote. “Despite these imperfections our consistent rule has been that constitutional guarantees are met” with procedural “safeguards” that make trials “as fair as possible.” Tired of the pleas to strike down the death penalty, Powell pointedly invited opponents to bring their statistical arguments to the state legislatures-and not judges. The dissenting opinions by four justices- William J. Brennan Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Harry A. Blackmun and John Paul Stevens- were significant for two reasons. First, there was the expected debate with the majority over the case itself, with the dissenters insisting that McCleskey’s evidence was stronger than the court had required in other cases. “Surely,” declared Brennan, “we should not be willing to take a person’s life if the chance that his death sentence was irrationally imposed is more likely than not.” Blood bath: Second, and symbolically important, the four justices held that the capital-punishment system appeared impermissibly stained by racial bias. The process, concluded Brennan, “reflects a devaluation of the lives of black persons.” That’s an unusually powerful statement, and one that could echo in later cases. The decision but McCleskey and a handful of other inmates-mostly in Texas-in immediate peril. An execution date for McCleskey may be set within the next month, with a few others to follow. “Everybody was really waiting for this case,” says a Georgia Department of Corrections spokesman, John Siler. “We even had one stay of execution for a white guy with a white victim.” But if the wait is over, neither side is predicting an imminent blood bath. Instead, most experts predict a gradual increase in executions-one much slower than the population explosion on death row-and a shift in the legal fight from broad challenges like McCleskey’s to case-by-case combat. More pleas: On the same day as the McCleskey decision, the justices themselves showed they were open to minimalist approach. In a Florida case, they unanimously ruled that a trail judge had improperly prevented killer James Ernest Hitchcock from pleading “mitigating circumstances” to the jury. There was no question of Hitchcock’s guilt. He was sentenced 11 years ago, but now he will wait for a new sentencing hearing in front of a jury and, even if he loses, he will be entitled to another round of appeals. Two dozen other death-row inmates will piggyback on Hitchcock’s success and will likely ask for new hearings as well. But that victory came too late for Ronald Straight. Lawyer Michael Mello, who spent several years in Florida specializing in death-penalty cases, last year tried to postpone Straight’s execution by arguing a claim similar to Hitchcock’s. Mello lost. “I had an awful time getting to sleep last night thinking about Ronald Straight,” Mello said last week. “It’s exactly what’s wrong with the death penalty.” Straight could have won a hearing under last week’s ruling. “Now he’s dead.” The increased emphasis on individual appeals will put more pressure on one of the weakest links in the system: the shortage of lawyers to handle the appeals. Their efforts are not frivolous foot dragging; according to Columbia University law professor Jack Greenberg, a leader of the anti-death-penalty movement, courts reversed about 45 percent of the death sentences they reviewed between 1982 and 1985. Many of those cases were handled by legal-aid or volunteer lawyers. But the burden is considerable: a survey by Boston lawyer Bob Spangenberg found that a lawyer devotes 2,000 hours and spends $30,000 out of pocket on an average appeal. Groups like the American Bar Association are trying to attract new recruits and encourage states to support such appellate work. And courts are beginning to worry about the quality of the lawyers handling death-row appeals. A federal appeals panel in Florida and a federal trial judge in Virginia have sharply criticized the haphazard quality of the volunteer systems. On capital punishment, no problem ever seems to be fully addressed. Already, strategists are looking for ways to differentiate their appeals from McCleskey’s. In a Utah case, for instance, lawyer Timothy Ford wants to present evidence of discrimination based on the defendants race rather than that of the victim, since blacks and Hispanics make up a disproportionate percent of the population on death row (chart). And in California, lawyers are discussing whether a McCleskey-style case might work as a state constitutional claim, a long shot given the appointments to the bench by conservative Gov. George Deukmejian. “Surely there will be other issues, some we have not dreamed of,” says Steve White, California’s chief assistant attorney general. In the meantime, a flawed system will continue to blunder along. Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gridlock on Death Row Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Newsweek Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-05-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 DPI Subject The topic of the resource Death row Supreme Court decisions--2000 Capital punishment--Cases Description An account of the resource This Newsweek article uses the failed death row appeal of Warren McClesky by the Supreme Court to bring up complicated issues surrounding capital punishment. Writers argue that the Supreme Court and most in the legal system admit there is racial bias involved when giving someone the death penalty. Even when people are on death row, they rarely are killed immediately or at all. The writers argue that amending the death penalty involves a complex case-by-case process that faces challenges of racial discrimination and lack of appeal lawyers. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McDaniel, Ann Calonius, Erik Raine, George Smith, Vern Murr, Andrew Shapiro, Daniel Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant United States appeal lawyers appeals capital punishment Death Row Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. lawyers McCleskey Michael Mello racial bias racial discrimnation Supreme Court https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/e7da01c8b81b0683584aa3442210a6bd.jpg 47bc3a00e57c5aca82a62662361025f9 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/12eaa3d1cc3dbf9ac1785acc1cceafcd.jpg aa103e5ca6186728d224e9bdd9d969e5 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/d25eb17789286307070891ccf96401f4.jpg 23bd598accdc014eb74ecd34fef8f77f https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/925b6e4f30feb7ae52523f60a9723fa9.jpg 936211b0001771cc3ceaff33d1002b3c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Vol. No./Issue No. Volume and issue number for the newspaper (if available) vol. 136, issue 229 Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Weber, Sophie Text Any textual data included in the document [Newspaper Title] Rutland H [Subheading] Vol. 136-No. 229 Rutland, Vermont Copyright Monday Morning, September 23, 1996 [Article Title] Cantini Case Highlights Board Action [Start column] MANCHESTER-Lawyer Gerald Cantini has hired many attorneys over the last few years-to handle his divorce, to defend him in malpractice suits, and now, to represent him in a pending professional misconduct investigation. But Cantini’s relationship with two lawyers who chaired the state panel that oversees legal ethics in Vermont has raised questions about whether the board failed to act promptly in a pair of disciplinary cases brought against him. J. Eric Anderson, who chaired the conduct panel from 1989 to 1993, waited nine months before finally blowing the whistle in 1994 on Cantini for allegedly cheating clients, according to former members of their staff. Cantini and Anderson shared an office at the time and Anderson was Cantini’s lawyer in a divorce. Deborah Banse, the lawyer who succeeded Anderson as head of the conduct board, signed a letter, meanwhile, dismissing a unrelated complaint against Cantini while also representing him. Anderson’s hesitancy to move against Cantini, and the appearance of conflict of interest on Banse’s part, may add fuel to the debate over the conduct of the Professional Conduct Board, the 15-member panel that polices lawyers in Vermont. Lawyers who have defended clients before the board have questioned recently whether the disciplinary process itself has adhered to the highest standards of ethics and fairness. Responding to some of these concerns, the Vermont Bar Association named a committee last week to review the lawyer disciplinary process. [Section Title] Possible Conflicts The Cantini case raises questions about lax enforcement and delayed investigation of misconduct allegations because of his ties to former chairs. Anderson, Banse and Cantini all practice in Manchester. The information about their cases comes from conduct board documents, affidavits filed with the board, Bennington County court files, depositions taken in connection with a malpractice lawsuit, and interviews with the principals. Both Cantini and his attorney, Peter Hall of Rutland, declined to comment last week. Cantini has been the target of five malpractice suits in recent years and two complaints to the conduct board, a 15-member panel that enforces the state lawyer disciplinary code. The first complaint dates back to 1989, when Dorset resident Katherine Graf accused Cantini of conflict of interest because he allegedly drafted a defective contract while representing both Graf and a building contractor she had hired. But this complaint-involving a serious allegation of ethical violations- languished at the board for years. Finally, in 1994, conduct board chair Banse wrote a letter dismissing the complaint, citing the length of time that had passed and the difficulty in finding witnesses. Banse said in her letter, however, that the panel had warned Cantini to “familiarize himself fully” with the profession’s conflict of interest standards. Banse said in an interview that she removed herself from all conduct board matters involving Cantini. She said she signed the letter because “it was my job.” [Bottom of page] See Page 9: Case [End page] [Start page] [Section title] Divorce Dispute [Start paragraph] But Banse was drawn into the next misconduct complaint filed against Cantini because of her work for him in his fiercely contested divorce case unfolding in 1994 in Bennington Superior Court. On the day after she wrote the letter dismissing the conflict of interest complaint, Banse appeared in Bennington Family Court on Cantini’s behalf. The conduct board chairwoman was fighting a motion for contempt brought by Cantini’s ex-wife in an alimony dispute. Cantini testified that both his health and deteriorating legal practice made it impossible to meet his obligations. He claimed to have earned only $15,000 in the first six months of the year, according to court records. But Cantini’s legal assistant, Judi Michel, said in an interview that Cantini was paid more than $15,000 for out-of-pocket expenses alone. In an affidavit filed with the conduct board, Michel said Anderson -- then a member of the conduct board and Cantini’s office-mate – returned to the office that day and referred to Cantini as “a master of deception.” Anderson was present in court as a spectator, according to Michel. As for Cantini, when he came back from the courtroom “he told me he cried in front of Judge (Richard) Norton and Norton ‘fell for it,’ ” Michel wrote. Norton denied the motion for contempt on the grounds that Cantini could not afford to pay alimony, according to court records. [section title] Early Warnings [start paragraph] Despite Cantini’s testimony, both Anderson and lawyer Robert Hartwell, who also shared offices with Cantini, did not report him, Michel said. Then in August 1994, Michel sat down with Anderson and Hartwell and reviewed the office’s trust account ledger, Cantini’s billings and other evidence she had compiled, according to the affidavit. “I told Eric (Anderson), ‘If you don’t report Gerry … I’m going to do it,’ “Michel said in an interview. “This is after being after him since Thanksgiving of ’93 to August of ’94. He (Anderson) didn’t want to get involved.” Bookkeeper Jan Kelley recalled in an interview that she met with Anderson around November 1993 and told him about Cantini’s orders “not to record income” and “to put certain bills through the office account that were really personal.” “I thought he should do something,” Kelley said of Anderson. “I didn’t think what was being asked of me was proper conduct. And I didn’t believe as a bookkeeper I should be doing what was asked of me.” Kelley also contends that she raised questions earlier about $5,000 that appeared to be missing from a client’s trust account. Anderson acknowledged in an interview that he did not act immediately when staff members came to him in 1993 with ledger sheets showing Cantini had allegedly dipped into a trust account. Although they shared an office, Anderson has denied legal claims that he was Cantini’s partner. But the allegations against Cantini did not gain momentum until he took the witness stand on the alimony issue and allegedly misled the judge, according to Michel. Anderson cited Cantini’s courtroom testimony in the complaint he filed with the conduct board, nine months after the staff members first came to him. Anderson, in his letter to the conduct board outlining his allegations, called attention to the fact that Deborah Banse, the conduct board chair, was also Cantini’s lawyer. The complaint accuses Cantini of taking money from the trust account, charging excessive fees and then hiding his income to avoid paying alimony. “I think its important that you know that Deborah Banse is representing Gerry in connection with his ex-wife’s efforts to collect alimony,” Anderson wrote to Shelley Hill, who prosecutes cases before the conduct board. “I hope that this matter will be discussed with Deborah and that you and/or Deborah will feel free to talk to me about this matter at any time.” Michel, the former legal assistant and office manager, said Anderson only files the complaint after she threatened to. And she said the conduct board bungled its initial investigation and has dragged its feet since then. Michel said in an interview that former conduct board investigator Anne Buttimer served Cantini with a subpoena in October 1994. “She wasn’t out that door a half hour and Gerry (Cantini) is pulling out filed to take out,” Michel said. Michel said she called the conduct board in a panic, urging them to protect the documents that would incriminate Cantini. “They’re supposed to be the policing agency. I’m a secretary,” said Michel. “Why am I calling them up to secure the records?” According to bookkeeper Kelley, the subpoena was served nearly a year after she and Michel first approached Anderson with their concerns about Cantini. But Anderson said he wanted to be convinced of the allegations. “I wanted to be sure myself of what the people on the staff were saying,” Anderson said. “This is nothing I did lightly. When other lawyers are faced with having to report another lawyer, it’s not done lightly.” [End page] [Start page] [section title] Banse’s role Anderson represented Cantini in Cantin’s divorce before Banse took that job. He said last week that he told Banse of his concerns about Cantini’s conduct around the time he filed the complaint. “I said she needed to consider that she stop representing him,” Anderson said. Banse was asked in an interview why, when she was the chairwoman of the Professional Conduct Board, she did not drop Cantini as her client after he had been accused of misconduct. “I was never told the substance of any complaint,” she said. But Michel confirmed Anderson’s version of the story, saying she and Banse discussed the allegations of misconduct in full. Court documents show that Cantini replaced Banse with another attorney six months after Anderson filed the complaint with the conduct board. By the time the board formally opened the second investigation against Cantini in July, Banse had finished her term as a member, Banse, however, was chair of the conduct board in 1994 when she signed the letter dismissing the conflict of interest complaint against Cantini. Banse’s letter of June 1994 did not mention that Cantini had been her client since February of that year. In the letter dismissing the complaint, Banse said the case was old and that the board had difficulty in finding witnesses. Conduct board records show, however, that cases equally old were resolved by either a private admonition or public reprimand. Anderson did not fault Banse for writing the letter dismissing the Graf complaint while she represented Cantini. “Those kinds of letters are completely ministerial. It could have been a secretary signing it. … I’m sure Deborah Banse had nothing to do with the decision” to dismiss the complaint, he said. But professor Michael Mello, who teaches constitutional law and legal ethics at Vermont Law School, said that Banse should not have signed the letter dismissing the Cantini complaint if she was also his lawyer. “As a technical matter I think she clearly should not have signed the letter,” said Mello. “Someone else in the chain of command can come forward and do it. The biggest problem it seems to me is that it creates an appearance of impropriety.” [section title] Praise for Banse The current chairman of the Professional Conduct Board, Middlebury lawyer Robert Keiner, said in an interview that Banse was “highly respected” as chairwoman of the conduct panel. But without commenting on the specifics of the Cantini case, Keiner said a conduct board chair should probably not sign a letter dismissing a misconduct complaint against a client. “I’m not sure under the circumstances you’ve spelled out that the code necessarily mandates that. But in order to avoid exactly what we’re going through now, apparently, it might have been more prudent at the time to simply … step aside and let the vice chair deal with it or let the entire board deal with it,” Keiner said. Although emphasizing he was not commenting on any specific case, Keiner said the code of professional conduct also requires lawyers to report allegations of attorney misconduct, as long as the information was not acquired through the attorney-client relationship. No public records are kept of the board’s votes when they dismiss a complaint. The board rules say that misconduct complaints that do not lead to formal charges are secret. Wendy Collins, a lawyer who serves as counsel to the Professional Conduct Board, said she could not comment on questions about Banse because of the confidentiality issue. [section title] Other Cases Cantin’s attorney, Peter Hall, cited the conduct board’s confidentiality requirements when declining to comment last week. “I’m not aware of any public complaint against Gerald Cantini, nor have I seen anything purporting to be issued by the Professional Conduct Board in this matter,” he said. “My understanding under the rules that govern the PCB is all such complaints are in fact confidential, and should not be, and as a result won’t be, the subject of any public discussion by me on behalf of my client. Although the conduct board warned Cantini in June1994 to “familiarize himself fully” with the profession’s standards on conflict of interest, he has been sued twice over that issue since. In September 1994, the former owners of the Arlington Inn filed a [new page] Mello, the law school professor, questioned whether the proceedings should be secret. Even frivolous complaints should be public, he said. “I think the whole thing should be open. If someone files a frivolous lawsuit there are ways to deal with that. It’s unfortunate frivolous complaints might be filed against a lawyer. It’s unfortunate frivolous malpractice cases are brought against doctors. That doesn’t mean we keep them secret,” he said. Anderson said that regardless of what the conduct board’s critics think, “the board members work very hard at this job. They take it very seriously. I think they are, at least when I was on the board, fair-minded.” Anderson served on the conduct board from 1984 to 1993. He was chairman during the last four years of his tenure, presiding over the board while the Graf complaint was pending. Anderson said he could not recall being involved in any conduct board case concerning Cantini. [End page] [new page; start paragraph] lawsuit in Bennington Superior Court claiming that Cantini failed to disclose a conflict when he helped them buy the property. Robert and Sandra Ellis paid nearly $1.5 million for the inn in 1991 and then lost it through foreclosure. They argue that Cantini should have told them he was connected to the real estate firm that represented the seller of the property. In the most recent malpractice case, Ernest Salo or Winhall contends that he was duped in 1992 by Cantini and his own brother intro signing a quit-claim deed rather that a mortgage deed on his house. Cantini is alleged to have represented both brothers. The lawsuit was filed in May. Two other malpractice lawsuits against Cantini were recently settled out of court for undisclosed sums. Cantini settled with the parents of a Manchester youth who was convicted of molesting two minors. The Vermont Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1992, ruling that Cantini provided “ineffective” counsel. Cantini also settled with Cheryl Bentsen, who sued him for allegedly mishandling her divorce. Bentsen’s attorney, Deborah Bucknam, told the court that she would prove that Cantini failed to keep track of time he billed Bentsen for. Bucknam also said she would show that Cantini failed to adequately represent Bentsen because he was embroiled in his own divorce. Bucknam told the court that there would be “extensive testimony” that Cantini took “extraordinary, including illegal, steps to avoid alimony payments” in his own divorce case. [End page] Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Cantini Case Highlights Board Action Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Crabtree, Peter Dillon, John Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1996-09-23 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Crabtree, Peter and John Dillon. “Cantini Case Highlights Board Action.” Rutland H, September 9, 1996. Description An account of the resource Lawyer Gerald Cantini has been sued and gone to court many times because of his divorce, malpractice suits, and in multiple investigations. He has had multiple lawyers defending him during his trials but they tend to quit due to his difficult nature. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 4 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Rutland, VT Subject The topic of the resource Divorce Malpractice--United States https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/5fe4ea7bd534b6bde57c15ed3cd63a9e.jpg 4b06102c8dd40898dd3ad057257f67c5 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/20bf2d566faeb61a3ad42ac5b89b641c.jpg b880fe8945e78a1c12f7f15e7e139547 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document Two state prosecutors have dusted off an old tool -- the grand jury -- to help them determine whether homicide charges should be filed in five recent cases. Some see the grand jury as a rubber stamp for a prosecutor who wants to justify a charge. Others see it as a way for prosecutors to tap community sentiment in deciding standards of conduct. Either way both State’s Attorneys William Sorrell in Chittenden County and Howard Vanbenthuysen in Franklin county say they won’t hesitate to use grand juries again. Sorrell used it four times in recent weeks. The results: one indictment for first-degree murder; four indictments for manslaughter, and one finding of justifiable homicide. VanBenthuysen used it last week to obtain a manslaughter indictment. Supporters if the system say grand juries give prosecutors an independent sounding board on the validity of charges. The process allows for review by a neutral party of cases that could be seen as politically motivated or sensitive. While a deputy prosecutor, VanBenthuysen helped in a 1985 Franklin county grand jury that reviewed alleged police misconduct. Critics contend that a prosecutor can lead a grand jury to an intended conclusion. No judge is present when a grand jury convenes, and prosecutors may present what information they choose. Robert Andres, who represents a Burlington man indicted by a grand jury, last week was critical of Sorrell for spending time and money to seek the three manslaughter indictments when the State’s Attorney’s Office had authority to file the charges. Grand jurors are paid $30 per day and 25 cents per mile for their services -- the rate of pay for a trial juror. Others note grand juries have enormous power because they may subpoena additional witnesses and start investigations into new cases. Grand jurors, unlike jurors at trials, may ask questions during the closed-door sessions. Defense lawyer Peter Langrock, who served on an American Bar Association grand jury reform committee, said the intent of the grand jury was good. “Historically grand juries were meant to act as a buffer between the … prosecutors and the rights of the individual,” Langrock said/ “As of late they have turned out not to fulfill that function but to be a mere tool of the prosecution.” He said the system is difficult for defendants because a lawyer is not allowed at the hearing. “If you’re representing somebody who’s subpoenaed … as a target you have to make a choice whether to let them go in on their own or refuse to let them testify. Neither solution is a very good one,” Langrock said. Langrock refused grand jury testimony by his client Robert Bizon of Clarendon, who was charged in the shooting death of a teen-ager Bizon caught in his garage. The grand jury indicted Bizon, but he was found innocent Thursday in Rutland Superior court. Abuses seen elsewhere Professor Michael Mello of the Vermont Law School said he has seen grand jury abuses in Florida while a public defender and in Washington, D.C., as a private lawyer. Since arriving in Vermont, however, he said he has been impressed by what appears to be the independence of Vermonters serving on grand juries. “My neighbors would not be swayed by a prosecutor,” said Mello, who noted indictments do not appear to be automatic in Vermont. Burlington attorney Norm lais knows what Mello means. After a grand jury refused to issue an indictment in October for a homicide, Blais praised Sorrell for his handling of the case. Burlington lawyer Jerome F. O’Neill, who worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for 8 ½ years, said indictments are not automatic, even in the federal system. He said he could recall at least two cases where the government thought an indictment was worthy, but the grand jurors refused to indict. VanBenthuysen said it makes little sense for a prosecutor to manipulate the grand jury. If a conviction cannot be obtained, why bring an indictment? He asked. A grand jury in state court normally consists of 18 to 23 residents from the county where an alleged crime occurred. At least 12 have to agree on any decision. A grand jury decides whether charges should be brought after hearing sworn testimony behind closed doors. It may determine how serious the charge will be -- first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter. Thomas Lehner, the Vermont Court administrator, said the grand jury is still in use in some states, but many abandoned the system because of abuses in the 1940s and ‘50s. In Vermont, grand juries fell into disuse years ago The last to go were those concerning homicides; They disappeared a dozen years ago. The grand jury was created in the United States with the ratification if the Fifth amendment 200 years ago this month. Grand juries were important in Vermont’s early days because state’s attorneys weren’t always lawyers, according to Albert Barney, retired chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court. The grand jurors saw themselves as having equal power, Barney said. Other values O’neill said there is a positive side-effect to grand juries. He said he found that grand jurors came away with a better understanding and a deeper appreciation for the criminal justice system. “They also get an understanding about the extent of crime in Vermont,” O’Neill said. The grand jury provides a valuable way to obtain or preserve testimony. “It was a very legitimate way to obtain testimony from those who did want to testify,” O’Neill said. He said witnesses may be subpoenaed if they refuse to speak to investigators. The testimony is provided under oath, thus exposing the witnesses to a perjury charge if they lie. O’Neill said the grand jurors can tell you if you have a problem or a hole in your case. Jurors take on homicides The grand jury actions in Vermont Superior Court during the past three months include -Sept. 12: A first-degree murder charge against Rebecca S. Durenleau, 39, of Franklin. She is accused of aiding a boyfriend in the killing of her husband outside an Essex Junction bar. She allegedly assisted Harmon Olmstead by setting up Michael Durenleau to be killed July 12, 1985, outside Veronica's Tavern on Park Street. -Oct. 1: An involuntary manslaughter charge against Rebecca Anne Emmons, 18, of Burlington in the May death of her 11 1/2 -month-old baby. Scot A. Bombard Jr. died in the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont for a head injury. -Oct. 30: A ruling of justifiable homicide in the June 15 fatal shooting of John Darling, 20, said he shot his older brother by accident. He said he was trying to protect his 14-year-old brother, Joel, from John Darling. The jury voted 15-5 that it was not a criminal act. -Dec. 4: Three involuntary manslaughter charges against Stephen Converse Brooks, 37, of Pearl Street in connection with the carbon monoxide poisoning of three people at his former home in December 1988. The indictment came less than a week before the statute of limitations would have expired. A pregnant woman, Linda Cifarelli, 26, her husband, John, 34, and their daughter, Nina, 23 months, were found dead in the house Dec. 10, 1988. -Dec. 5: An involuntary manslaughter charge against Brain Draper, 1, of Highgate for the Oct. 17 fatal shooting of a Franklin County farmhand. Michael Pigeon, 16, was shot in the head at the farm off Tarte Road in Highgate. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Goad, Samuel Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Jury Sees Action Description An account of the resource In recent months, the court system in the state of Vermont has seen a revival of the Grand jury. While the practice of calling for a Grand jury is legitimate, some question whether affording the prosecution such a powerful tool to indict does not overstep the boundaries of prosecutorial misconduct. Several lawyers, officers, and experts argue the implications of this new wave of Grand jury indictments. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Burlington, VT Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Donoghue, Mike Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Burlington Free Press Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-08-12 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 DPI Subject The topic of the resource Grand jury--United States Legal aid Prosecutorial misconduct https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/5f0a233f088aadf6da81a772b7c032ab.jpg 2099bf09d794ac930221d09d0c579f76 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/cca1408ee1af19bb73d70782375bed2f.jpg 8d2a0ee5192d1ef9d2abaf000526c779 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/81ad9a4b7f615b2509bc307c38922fbf.jpg 973cb8a2e7ff0f4927b09451e21bdac0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [Title] Justices chided for overturning 5 high-profile homicide case [Author] Mike Donoghue Montpelier -- A recent string of convictions overturned in several high-profile cases, including five homicides, has no common thread and might be rooted in the independent nature of the Vermont Supreme Court. Michael A. Mello, a Vermont Law School professor, and David Putter, a Montpelier lawyer, are among the legal scholars giving the high court top marks for independence in tough cases. "There does not appear to be a common thread," Putter said. "Obviously, they have a lot of cases they didn't overturn." Putter said he doubts the justices enjoy overturning cases, but have a duty to make sure trials are fair. The more complex the case, the more likely an error is made, he said. Overturning five homicide cases in one year has netted the court public criticism from the family of victims, jurors, one prosecutor and even Gov. Howard Dean. Records indicate that 15 out of 22 homicide convictions have been upheld in recent years. The criticism fails to loosen the lips of Vermont Chief Justice Frederic Allen. Allen said recently he never comments on cases even when they are considered closed because they sometimes have a way of being reopened. Mello said the homicide reversals by the Supreme Court are based on different fact patterns. Mello, at the request of The Burlington Free Press, recently reviewed the reversals in four homicide cases: Rebecca Durenleau in Chittenden County, Christopher Bacon in Windham [end page one] [start page two]County, and Monica Pollard and Wayne Delisle in Franklin County. The Supreme Court said: -In Durenleau, the verdict was incorrectly based on the jury's conjecture. -In Bacon, the trial judge erred when he explained the concept of intent. -In Pollard, there was inadequate proof in the court record to show he was competent to enter a guilty plea. -In Delisle, the judge erred in his instructions on whether the defendant could be found guilty of manslaughter, a lesser offense. Mello praises the court for overturning Delisle's murder conviction. Mello noted he is working on the appeal for a Florida death row inmate and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the same argument. Mello, who has taught at the law school in South Royalton for eight years, said the Vermont court, in overturning other cases, is a strong believer in protecting rights of citizens, especially when it comes to search and seizure. Reaction and change Former Chittenden County State's Attorney William Sorrell was among those livid by the high court's overturning the 1992 conviction of Rebecca Durenleau for helping her then-lover Harmon Olmstead kill her husband, Michael Durenleau, in 1985. The high court said the jurors had used too much circumstantial evidence to convict the woman and had to leap too far to connect The justices [image - Frederic Allen, labeled: Name: Chief Justice Frederic Allen Date of birth: May 31, 1926 Residence: Shelburne Family: Wife, Karen McAndrew; two sons and two daughters Background: Born and educated in Burlington. 1951 graduate of Boston University Law School, Burlington alderman, private practice with Dinse, Allen and Erdmann 1951-84. Named chief justice in 1984.] [image - Ernest Gibson, labeled: Name: Associate Justice Ernest Gibson Date of birth: Sept. 23, 1927 Residence: Montpelier Family: Wife, Charlotte; one son and two daughters Background: Born and educated in Brattleboro. 1956 graduate of Harvard Law School, former state's attorney and legislator from Windham County, chairman of the Public Service Board in 1963, elected a Superior Court judge in 1972. Appointed to Supreme Court in February 1983. ] [image - John Dooley, labeled: Name: Associate Justice John Dooley Date of birth: April 10, 1944 Residence: South Burlington Family: Wife, Sandra Background: Born and educated in Nashua, N.H. 1968 graduate of Boston College Law School, head of Vermont Legal Aid, secretary of administration for governor. Appointed to the court in June 1987.] [end page two] [start page three] her to the death. In a rare move, the court set Durenleau free instead of ordering a new trial. Although the case angered the public, there appeared to be no doubt in the mind of the high court. The diverse court had no dissenting opinions. Sorrell, who has been mentioned as a possible successor to Allen when he retires in the spring, said the court did not have the benefit of hearing the testimony or noting the demeanor of witnesses. Sorrell's criticism of the court is rare among lawyers for two reasons: The Supreme Court is in charge of discipline, and most losing lawyers know they are likely to have more cases before the justices. Nothing can be done when the court says there was too little evidence, as in Durenleau's case. After other Vermont Supreme Court rulings, the Legislature has passed new laws to overrule the effect a court decision can have in future cases. Former Attorney General M. Jerome Diamond said he won a workman's compensation claim on appeal and the next session of the Legislature, lawmakers passed a law prohibiting others from winning under similar circumstances. Putter agrees with Diamond. Putter noted the court can make "bad law," as when it upheld the conviction of the killer of policeman Edward Battick, but ruled the mandatory life sentence actually meant up to life and parole was available immediately. The Legislature later passed laws establishing new sentences for first- and second-degree murder and allowed for life sentences without parole. Diamond said he would not be surprised if the Legislature were asked to eliminate the three-year statute of limitations for manslaughter because of the Delisle case and a similar Chittenden County case. [image - James Morse, labeled: Name: Associate Justice James Morse Date of birth: Sept. 11, 1940 Residence: Charlotte Family: Wife, Gretchen; two daughters Background: Born in New York City and educated in Eastchester, N.Y; 1969 graduate of Boston University Law School, defender general and Superior Court judge. Appointed to Supreme Court in 1988.] [image - Denise Johnson, labeled: Name: Associate Justice Denise Johnson Date of birth: July 13, 1947 Residence: Shrewsbury Family: Husband, Thomas Wies; a son and a daughter Background: Born and raised in Wyandotte, Mich. 1974 graduate of University of Connecticut Law School, Vermont Law School teacher, assistant attorney general 1980-88, Vermont Human Rights Commission 1988-90. Appointed to the Supreme Court in December 1990.] [end page three] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newpaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Hobbs, Sophia Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Justice chided for overturning 5 high-profile homicide cases Subject The topic of the resource Homicide--Law and legislation Vermont. Supreme Court Description An account of the resource In 1995, five homicide convictions are overturned by the Vermont Supreme Court. Michael Mello praises justices for overturning murder convictions. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Donoghue, Mike Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Donoghue, Mike. "Justices chided for overturning 5 high-profile homicide cases." The Burlington Free Press, October 8, 1995. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-10-08 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 3 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Montpelier, VT homicide Michael Mello Vermont Vermont Supreme Court https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/927306cb3181277414fb3d5601f72744.jpg db01384ce48841a168d99de80e5aa034 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Lee, Tessa Text Any textual data included in the document <span style="font-size: medium;">[title] Parent-child privilege has little precedent</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">By Mike Donoghue Free Press Staff Witter</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Arthur and Geneva <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenSpellError" pre="">Yandow</span></span> faced an uphill battle when they asserted that as parents they <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenGrammarError" pre="">should not be</span></span> forced to testify against their son, a rape suspect.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">No state recognize the privilege, but a Vermont Law School professor said they should hold their ground and appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Professor Michael Mello knows the parent-child issue well. He helped defend a woman who refused to tell a Washington, D.C., court the whereabouts of her daughter. The mother suspected her divorce husband of molesting the child during court order visits. The mother went to jail in August 1987 for two years <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenGrammarError" pre="">rather then</span></span> have her 9-year-old daughter visit her father.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Courts recognize that some people have special rights when it comes to certain communications. They include doctor-patient, priest-confessor, counselor-client, journalist-source, lawyer-client, and husband-wife. Some <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenGrammarError" pre="">are based</span></span> on common law, and others <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenGrammarError" pre="">are based</span></span> on state laws.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">There appears <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenGrammarError" pre="">to be</span></span> little support in the courts to extend husband-wife privilege to parent-child, Burlington lawyer Noah Paley said. Paley, who also has an interest in medical-confidentiality issues, noted that in cases involving doctors, counselors or lawyers, the person is seeking a professional service.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Dr. Arnold <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenSpellError" pre="">Golodetz</span></span> pf the Vermont Ethics Network agreed. He noted that a husband-wife or parent-child privilege is not based on a <span class="mceItemHidden">commercial</span> relationship.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Jane Kirtley of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said journalists have a constitutional protection under the First Amendment.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">"Journalism is the <span class="mceItemHidden">one</span> <span class="mceItemHidden">business</span> protected by the <span class="mceItemHidden">Constitution</span>," the Arlington, Va., lawyer said.</span> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Parent-child privilege has little precedent Subject The topic of the resource Parents should not have to testify against children committed crimes in court. Description An account of the resource No state recognize the child/parent privilege when it comes to testifying in court cases. Many argue they should appeal to the Supreme Court. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Donoghue, Mike Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Donoghue, Mike. "parent-child privilege has little precedence." The Burlington Free Press Newspaper, March 29, 1996. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-03-29 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 jpg 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/dc4d9fc66feca1995a9c20f94381fb16.jpg 57e45c4526f7f38873d11d829ba730f9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 3, 1995 Text Text Any textual data included in the document A reporter once found Public Defender Bob Jagger pacing his office floor as nervously as if he were the defendant about to go on trial. I asked Jagger why he was so anxious, since it was hardly his first murder case. “But this guy is innocent,” he said. “I'm afraid of making some mistake that will get him killed.” Fortunately for them not, the jury thought the man innocent too. I have written about many other criminal cases over the ensuing 30 years. What strikes me now is how very few other defense attorneys have proclaimed their clients’ innocence with such moral certitude as Jagger voiced that day. Almost always, they turned out to be right. So I urge you today to read Michael Mello’s heartfelt account, beginning one page 1D of this section, of his efforts, futile so far, to save Joseph “Crazy Jow” Spaziano from Florida’s electric chair, where he is now scheduled to die in just 23 days. It brings to mind how someone once described law as the “bastard offspring to justice.” In that instance, it was to decry mercy for guilty men. In this, the courts are using the law as an excuse to avoid facing the only question that can verify the justice or injustice of Spaziano’s execution: Was he proved guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt, of murdering Lynn Harberts? He was not. It doesn't matter that he was a biker, an outcast, a card-carrying Outlaw, or even that he also is a convicted rapist. What does matter to us all, if we do not want outrage perpetrated in the name of us all, is whether he is guilty of this murder. Even the jury had doubts, voting 9 to 3 for a life sentence instead of death. But though there is now impressive evidence that Spaziano’s trial was unfair and his conviction unjust, the courts have relied on procedural pretexts- technicalities, if you will- to refuse to let him present any of it to a new jury. The state’s entire case depended not he shaky testimony of a 16-year-old boy whose memory has been “refreshed” by hypnosis, at the hands of an arguably unqualified hypnosis who asked leading questions for the police. (The same hypnotist contributed to the infamous murder convictions of Freddie Pitts and Wilbert Lee, whom Gov. Reunion Askew eventually pardoned because he doubted their guilt.) The Florida Supreme Court no longer allows testimony induced by hypnosis. But where this was “harmless error” in multiple murder Ted Bundy’s case, the courts are content to let it be fatal error in Spaziano’s. There is also evidence that police withheld evidence pointing to the possible guilt of another man. Other men have been set free from death row for that. Not Spaziano. What out to be an unceasing search for truth has becom a morbid game of “Gotcha!” What is even more troubling is that Gov. Lawton Chiles, a man of conscience, has shut his mind and heart to the issue of Spaziano’s possible innocence. Our tradition acknowledges that the justice system can miscarry. This is one of the reasons for the power of executive clemency. Florida’s governor must share with his elected Cabinet, at least three of whose sex members must approve his recommendation for clemency. But though governors and Cabinets of the past weren't afraid to grant life sentences in similar cases, there haven't been any commutations for Florida’s death row since the third year of Bob Graham's first year, 14 years ago. Chiles wouldn't even give Spaziano a hearing. “It's one of the more frustrating experiences I've ever had,” says Tom Horkan, the longtime lobbyist (now retired) for the Florida Catholic Conference, who had signed Spaziano’s clemency petition “… He (Chiles) just has a flat-out attitude to the effect that it's up to the courts and it's not up to him.” Horkan said he had presented the governor’s office with Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s description of clemency as “’the fail-safe’ in out criminal justice system.” It was no use. In the 1993 case Horkan cited, the Supreme Court had ruled 6-3 that the Constitution does not bar states from executing people who may be innocent. But if governors like Chiles won't step in either, there is not fail-safe at all. “Everybody denies responsibility,” Horkan complains bitterly. “He (Chiles) says its up to the courts, the courts say it's up to the executive.” W. Dexter Douglass, the governor’s general counsel, argues that Spaziano has a hearing before Graham signed his first death warrant 10 years ago. “Hasn't anything changed,” says Douglass. Indeed, some things have changed. No one really thought that warrant would be carried out. It was assumed the courts would block it, as they did. But Spaziano did not get a new trial either. And of course, neither Chiles nor any of the present six Cabinet members sat in on the 1985 hearing. You would think they would be willing to hear Spaziano’s case for themselves if his blood had to be on their hands. At last count, there were 350 other people on death row, most of them guilty as hell. Aren't those enough, Governor? Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Closing the door on innocence Subject The topic of the resource Death penalty Description An account of the resource News article covering Mello's continued defense of Joseph Spaziano 23 days before his execution is carried out. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dyckman, Martin Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived St. Petersburg Times Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-06-04 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 dpi Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida Language A language of the resource English death penalty Gov. Lawton Chiles Joseph Spaziano Michael A. Mello Ted Bundy US Supreme Court https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/9527903e1c8978ce8a0f59344070a78c.jpg fdc007b3ce6410d831d2416bf842f801 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 3, 1995 Text Text Any textual data included in the document <p>[handwritten] Sunday- Aug. 27</p> <p>[handwritten] St. Pete Times</p> <p>A man may die under cover of secrecy</p> <p>Martin Dyckman</p> <p>If Joe Spaziano had a fair trial, so did the Salem witches. For 302 years, no other American has been put to death on the unsupported testimony of an addled teenager.</p> <p>The state’s only witness now insists he lied under the influence of police pressure, hypnosis and possibly drugs at Spaziano’s murder trial 20 years ago. Yet the governor has ordered Spaziano’s electrocution to proceed Sept. 21. I do not understand how Lawton Chiles, a decent and considerate man, can be so certain. Even the jurors weren’t. They recommended life.</p> <p>Because this killing will be done in our names, we had all better pray that Spaziano really is the man who raped and butchered Laura Lynn Harberts, an Orlando hospital clerk, and left her body at a trash dump. But even if he is, there are serious implications that will outlive him.</p> <p> It will be the first time in memory that someone went to his death on the strength of secret evidence. <i>Secret evidence!</i> Even the Salem witches were condemned entirely in public.</p> <p>The governor has a Florida Department of Law Enforcement Report supposedly showing that the key witness, Tony DiLisio, was telling the truth then (and not now) when he testified that Spaziano took him to the dump and boastfully showed him the corpses of Harberts and another woman who was never identified. The FDLE’s new witnesses have never been heard or cross-examined in any court, however. They never will be, if the governor has his way, because the FDLE promised them confidentiality.</p> <p>It is claimed they are afraid of Spaziano’s former associates in the Outlaws motorcycle gang. This may be true. Still, courts have ways of putting witnesses on the stand without jeopardizing them. For example, one of the governor’s secret witnesses is said to be another former Outlaw already in the federal government’s witness protection program as an FBI informant. He says - according to the governor’s news release - that Spaziano had admitted to him before standing trial that he had killed the two women and had showed their bodies to a young man who he feared would betray him. Very interesting. For all we know, it could have been this witness himself who killed the women.</p> <p>The governor’s secret witnesses also supposedly include friends and family members who assert that the police and their lay hypnotist didn’t manipulate DiLisio and that he told the story he now denies before the hypnosis, before the trial, and for 20 years since. That too maybe true. But that governor’s secret evidence also includes the FDLE’s videotape of a June 14 interview with DiLisio in which he insists in forceful terms that what he says NOW is the truth. Such conflicts belong in open court rather than a secret file – especially when a life is at stake.</p> <p>I haven’t seen the tape. I do have what purports to be a transcript, sent by Spaziano’s attorney, Michael Mello, who has filed his bootleg copy of the tape with the Florida Supreme Court under seal. In the transcript, DiLisio says of the crucial visit to the dump that “The cops brought me there. I had never been there in my life until they brought me there.”</p> <p>Did Spaziano ever take him?</p> <p>“No, never.”</p> <p>Had he ever told the police anything before being hypnotized?</p> <p>“No, all the facts that I had I got from them to be able to read them back to them.”</p> <p>Throughout the transcript, the FDLE’s crack agent repeatedly refers to Spaziano as “Foranzo,” ”Sporanzo,” or “Spilanzo,” until DiLisio eventually corrects him. Could that be one of the reasons the governor doesn’t want the file made public? What else did the FDLE get wrong?</p> <p>And what has happened to the nation’s best open-government laws? Relying on a 1993 revision that caught the media lobby napping, Chiles invokes a total exemption for any record having to do with executive clemency. How convenient. Clemency happens to be one of the black holes of American jurisprudence. The Supreme Court won’t touch it. For all the courts care, the governor could go to Doak Campbell stadium at halftime and let the crowd decide Spaziano’s fate with thumbs up or thumbs down, Roman style.</p> <p>The governor’s spokesman, Ron Sachs, tried to persuade me it’s not a secret report because the governor and his staff have reviewed it “thoroughly.” Indeed. Much as we all love and respect Lawton Chiles, secrecy is a petri dish for corruption as well as for honest miscarriages of justice. Under such cover, a less trustworthy administration easily could sell pardons. It happened in Tennessee under Ray Blanton.</p> <p>Only the Florida Supreme Court, it appears, can now interrupt this fatal farce. Though the court no longer allows hypnotically induced testimony in criminal trials, it has refused to reopen Spaziano’s case on the grounds that his lawyers raised the issue too late. The state would argue that DiLisio’s recantation also comes too late.</p> <p>But, God help us all, what if he is telling the truth?</p> <p><em>Martin Dyckman is associate editor of the</em> St. Petersburg Times.</p> Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A man may die under cover of secrecy Subject The topic of the resource Spaziano, Joe Capital punishment Description An account of the resource Joe Spaziano's execution is still likely to occur even though the only witness recanted his testimony. Most of the evidence that Governor Lawton Chiles has to condemn Spaziano has not been made publicly available or brought to court. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dyckman, Martin Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Dyckman, Martin. "A man may die under cover of secrecy." St. Petersburg Times. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant St. Petersburg, FL Evidence Joe Spaziano https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/c5e92d263b6c4c369bf853e9c6b7b8e3.jpg dd5fcff14847cb4f6ea335d786cc944e Text Text Any textual data included in the document SAN FRANCISCO - Convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski says he was coerced into pleading guilty to three murders and wants a federal appeals court to allow a trial, which could end in a death sentence. The guilty pleas “were induced by the threat of a mental-state defense that Kaczynski would have found unendurable, as well as by deprivation of constitutional rights,” such as the right to control his own defence and represent himself, he wrote. In a 58-page, handwritten brief, composed in a maximum-security federal prison in Colorado, Kaczynski asked the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals to be allowed to withdraw his guilty pleas and go to trial. As an alternative, he requested a new US District Court hearing, before a different judge, on whether his rights were violated when his lawyers insisted on using a defense based on his mental condition. “Kaczynski’s counsel’s portrayal of him as a grotesque lunatic would have been broadcast nationwide, and this was a prospect that anyone might have found unendurable. Suicide to avoid public humiliation is by no means unknown,” wrote Kaczynski, who attempted suicide in jail after his lawyers told him of their plans. His brief was due yesterday but was filed Dec. 28. The document delves into complex constitutional arguments, abounds with legal citations, and refers to the defendant as “Kaczynski” and to the writer as “we.” Kaczynski, a Harvard-trained mathematician who became a forest recluse living in Montana, pleaded guilty in January 1998 to mail bombings that killed three people and injured 23. Two deaths occurred in Sacramento and the third was in New Jersey. His guilty plea came after the US District Judge Garland Burrell of Sacramento refused to let him represent himself or delay the trial to let Kaczynski get a lawyer who would present a defense based on his views about technology and the environment. Kaczynski began the appeal shortly after he pleaded guilty. The appeals court allowed Kaczynski to reopen the case in October, ruling that he had made a substantial showing that his rights were violated when he was denied the right to represent himself or prevent his lawyers from offering evidence about his mental condition. After further arguments, the three-judge appellate panel will decide whether to let the case go to trial. Assistant US Attorney Steve Lapham, the government’s lawyer, declined comment. The Justice Department initially sought a death sentence for Kaczynski but accepted a life sentence after a court-ordered psychiatric examination, conducted over his objections, concluded he was a paranoid schizophrenic. Kaczynski’s writings have connected the attacks to his campaign against technological tyranny. Michael Mello, a Vermont Law School professor who has written a book on the case and helped Kaczynski with an earlier legal filing, said yesterday he thought Kaczynski could represent himself adequately. Description: Convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski files a handwritten appeal asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court to let him withdraw his 1998 guilty pleas, claiming they were coerced by the threat of a mental-defense strategy and denial of his right to represent himself. He seeks a new trial that could result in the death penalty. Title: Kaczynski, in brief, says he wants trial Subject: Theodore Kaczynski, Unabomber, guilty plea withdrawal, 9th Circuit appeal, self-representation, mental health defense Creator: Bob Egelko Source: The Boston Globe, Associated Press (AP) Date: Jan. 19, 2000 Format: JPG Identifier: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jan-19-mn-55403-story.html Coverage: ​​ 1998/2000 ; San Francisco, California, United States ; 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Original Format: Strip of newspaper taken from The Boston Globe Notes: This piece was written by Bob Egelko, published by Associated Press (AP) and was featured in The Boston Globe. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Strip of newspaper taken from The Boston Globe Vol. No./Issue No. Volume and issue number for the newspaper (if available) N/A Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. N/A Notes Additional information regarding your item. This content will not be viewable in the Public View. This piece was written by Bob Egelko, published by Associated Press (AP), and was featured in The Boston Globe. Student Editor of the Digital Item Cole Cox Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Kaczynski, in brief, says he wants trial Subject The topic of the resource Theodore Kaczynski, Unabomber, guilty plea withdrawal, 9th Circuit appeal, self-representation, mental health defense Description An account of the resource Convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski files a handwritten appeal asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court to let him withdraw his 1998 guilty pleas, claiming they were coerced by the threat of a mental-defense strategy and denial of his right to represent himself. He seeks a new trial that could result in the death penalty. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Egelko, Bob Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Boston Globe, Associated Press (AP) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 299, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Jan. 19, 2000 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource .jpg Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jan-19-mn-55403-story.html Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1998/2000 ; San Francisco, California, United States ; 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Circuit court Kaczynski Michael Mello retrial Theodore Kaczynski trial Unabomber https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/8c7cb7a9c78e95163e358f4944bd188f.jpg a710c7f0a20da86ab6901ee74e52ca7a https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/cf676fc68b73c86c67287ec3a42d03e5.jpg 7f100938c8657e10003e97ee89aaf9ad https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/b1d476a5fd7e114d2a78345dda13c92b.jpg 9a0d75bdb2eb91157f7edf2422c24f5d https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/5c12fe34288d9b6a16ec29e2cfd0f227.jpg 25a87680b848411e215304483ed8fbda https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/80eb0bc18f327a4e673bcd31850fdaa4.jpg 7aaa9c1923d26fac1ea5e67653727b3a https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/4d4da5b4700debcf242f6b71b4261161.jpg a9302b1ddd8d48715cae21fabd73cdf5 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/979e111bdec39d30ca5d7cc8b2bae431.jpg 458cb6261108050abf5c2832f172c561 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/c61aaeed3d162b0c040d06952ae04cea.jpg 9c1da7152fa7a68e487338fee294d8cc Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [Page 1] Cover Story/Page 8<br />[title]Current Events<br />[subtitle] This is Florida's electric chair. And here is the story of how two newsperps fought over wheter a man dervered to die in it [End Page 1]<br /><br />[Page 2]<br />[title]Current Events<br />[subtitle] Orlando's hometown newspaper thinks a killer might get off because The Miami Herald crusaded on his behalf. Whose truth is right?<br /><br />On Jan, 22, a Seminole County circuit judge granted Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano a new trial on a 20- year-old conviction for murder. The ruling, now on appeal, capped an eight-month legal [crusade] and presumably shocked readers who followed the story in The Orlando Sentinel. <br /><br />Those who read The Miami Herald, however, were likely less surprised. Indeed, the two papers' competing, sometimes conflicting reports carried over into editorials following Judge O.H. Eaton Jr.'s ruling. "Justice awakens," crowed the Herald. “Justice clearly cheated,” huffed the Sentinel.&nbsp;<br /><br />Who was right? <br /><br />In a way, both. A Herald reporter and editors read Spaziano's trial transcript, passed it off to experts, and [concluded] that the state's star wit- ness against Spaziano, Tony DİLisio, lied when he told a jury here in 1976 that Spaziano had shown him two bodies in a dump. The Herald's reporting raised the idea that DiLisio's original testimony sprang from a suggestive hypnotist, and that he was fed details by authorities who may have promised him lighter punishment for juvenile crimes. The Herald also [resurrected] DiLisio's past with an abusive father and a stepmother Who had some kind of sexual [page end] <br /><br />[page start] relationship with Spaziano, and therefore every motive to use their sons as a way to get back at him. To the question of whether Spaziano received a fair trial based on the paper [concluded] no. <br /><br />But the Sentinel countered with reports from law [enforcement] experts and others, includ- ing the former “old lady" of the once fearsome biker Spaziano, plus two of his brothers, who say Spaziano was involved in other murders and rapes. Darcy Fauss, who lived with Spaziano for about 18 months when he was on the lam, described him to the Sentinel as a sadistic gang enforcer who kept her in virtual slavery. To the question of whether Spaziano is a killer, some former associates say yes. Yet his only conviction for [murder] has now been reversed, and a new trial ordered.<br /><br />The discrediting of DiLisio creates a huge burden for the state to make its case again. But just as difficult is the question that served as undercurrent to the recent coverage: Can Florida afford to put a vicious thug back on the street because prosecu- tors and police did a poor job 20 years ago? Conversely, can Florida afford a standard [justice] that would execute a man based on dubious, and perhaps concocted, evidence? <br /><br />Together, the two papers did an unparalleled job of exploring the complex underpinnings of a death row case. Separately, [however], each paper subtly snubbed the truths reported by their rival, to their readers' detriment. “Orlando Sentinel readers who picked up the Herald on any given day were probably [confused]," posits Ron Sachs, until recently a spokesman for Gov. Chiles, who had signed Spaziano's execution order. <br /><br />If the Sentinel and the Herala competed directly for readers—a once common fact only rarely seen among newspapers today—the Spaziano case would have boosted the circulation of both and fomented a lively debate among readers across their [coverage] area. But because each paper dominates in its own [market], nobody except news [professionals] and elites like Sachs saw the alternative arguments. <br /><br />As efforts to deregulate [communications] hit their stride and leave ever-diminishing circles for competing viewpoints, the Herald-Sentinel contest serves as a parable of sorts for the age of media monopolies<br /><br />Lori Rozsa of the Herald says she took the assignment to check up on the Spaziano case. because it was her turn. <br /><br />Spaziano was only weeks away from his scheduled execution June 27 in the electric chair for killing Laura Harberts, an 18- year-old Orlando hospital clerk. A reinterview of DiLisio, his accuser, would be a routine part of Rozsa's job. <br /><br />"I totally expected him to say I stand by my story; leave me alone," Rozsa says. <br /><br />But DiLisio said he didn't remember his testimony of 20 years earlier. Rozsa didn't believe him. "I kept saying, 'How could you not remember your testimony in a murder case?" <br /><br />Rozsa returned several times to DiLisio's North Florida home with more questions. Finally DiLisio cracked. He said he had made up his testimony against Spaziano, then a member of the Outlaws motorcycle gang, at the urging of police. Suddenly the Herald had a major story. <br /><br />Suddenly all hell broke loose.<br /><br />Along with supportive [editorials] in the St. Petersburg Times, the Herald's coverage caused Chiles to stay the execution. He then ordered the Florida Depart- ment of Law Enforcement to investigate even as Spaziano's Lawyers pushed for a new trial and all before the Sentinel ran a [page end] <br /><br />[page start] single, locally reported place on what should have been, for them, a local story. <br /><br />The FDLE review convinced Chiles to sign another death war- rant. But the Florida Supreme Court ordered a hearing on DILASIO's wavering. Herald edito- rials called for a new trial, while it's news coverage questioned the FDLE report's accuracy. The Sentinel, investigating on its own, lamented the slow pace death penalty justice in its edito- rials and began running stories attacking DiLisio. <br /><br />The newspapers even sniped at one another's reporters. <br /><br />The competition had been sparked in early summer, when Michael Mello, a Vermont law professor who was then Spaziano's lawyer, began urging Gene Miller, a Herald editor, look at the case. For 19 years Spaziano had languished on death row, despite four death warrants. His case had been reviewed 16 times, including once by the U.S. Supreme Court. <br /><br />Miller, who had won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting that overturned another death row conviction, was intrigued. No physical evidence tied Spaziano to Harbert's death and, indeed, the body was so decomposed by the time it was discovered that medical examiners could not even fix a cause of death. Another body found at the same site has never been identified. <br /><br />More troubling was this: Tony DILisio, a 17-year-old acid haad and biker wannabe at the [page end] [page start] Miami cop and founding chair- time of the trial, had been hyp- notized by the same man who had elicited tainted testimony in the earlier overturned case. The Florida Supreme Court banned the use of hypnosis-enhanced testimony in 1985, saying it was inherently unreliable. But the ruling was not retroactive. <br /><br />Mello sent the case file to Miller, who in turn shared it with Warren Holmes, an ex- man of the American Polygraph Association's case review com- mittee. Having read hundreds of murder cases in his 40-year career, Holmes bills himself as an expert in sniffing out perjury, and claims to have worked on major cases from the John F. Kennedy assassination to the William Kennedy Smith rape trial. "I got the file and read it over Memorial Day weekend," he says. "I went back and said DILisio lied through his teeth and they should look into it." <br />And so they did. <br /><br />Mello had written a fiery op ed piece pleading for a new trial, and Miller called friends at the Sentinel and The St. Petersburg Times and asked them to run it as well. It appeared in all three on June 4-seven days before the Herald's first report. <br /><br />"We ran the original plece that Mello wrote," says John Halle, vice president and editor of the Sentinel, But the piece arrived too late for Sentinel editors to confirm its veracity. "We did some research," Haile says. "We wanted a of another point of view, and then we wanted to do a little poking around." <br /><br />The result of the Sentinel's poking, published a month after Mello's op-ed piece and in the midst of the FDLE investigation, was a July 2 story that ques- tioned the assertion by Spaziano's supporters that he was a veritable martyr, and delved into DiLisio's claims to be reformed alcoholic and born- again Christian who had straightened out his life. 64 [page end] <br /><br />[page start] A former state attorney pro- nounced Spaziano "a cold-heart- ed killer," while a check on DILisio found nine Florida arrests, two recent DUIS and a pending court date for stalking. În short, the reformed DiLisio did not appear to be anyone's paragon of veracity and stability. <br /><br />Then again, the Herald never claimed he was. <br /><br />"The guy's a flake," says John Pancake, the Herald state editor who helped direct Rozsa's reporting. "The question is, do you want to send a man to the chair based on the word of a flake? He's not a [page end] [page start] witness for Spaziano; he's a wit- ness for the state. If he is unreli- able, it's the state's problem." <br /><br />Mello refused to talk to the Sentinel after its report. “In my view," he wrote in a fax after Chiles refused Spaziano's request for clemency, "you are an accomplice to murder." <br /><br />With the FDLE report and the governor's refusal, the tle lines were drawn: The Herald would bolster DİLisio's retreat and denigrate both the original investigation and the FDLE report; the Sentinel, with the help of police sources, would blast away both at DiLisio and Spaziano, suggesting the jailed biker is in fact a serial killer without portfolio. <br /><br />"The Orland Sentinel was trying to answer one question: Is 'Crazy Joe' Spaziano a bad guy?" says the Herald's Pancake. "We were trying to answer, 'Did he get a fair trial?" <br /><br />Sentinel editor Haile denies his paper's aim was to paint Spaziano one way or the other. "From the beginning there was just one issue in the case: Is Tony DiLisio telling the truth?" he says. "Everything else had&nbsp;<br /><br />The Sentinel reported DiLisio was being pressured by the Outlaws to change his testimo- ny, and that he was a publicity seeker who may have recanted with an eye toward a book deal.<br /><br />Investigating DiLislo was a duty, Halle says, as was reminding readers what the Outlaws- and Spaziano in particular did and were capable of doing at the time Harberts disappeared. <br /><br />All coverage might have ended with the new Sept. 21 execu- tion date, but for what happened next. Mello obtained a deposition from DILisio in which he, for the first time, recanted under oath. Based on that, the state Supreme Court on Sept. 8 ordered a new hear ing. And Spaziano was spared again. <br /><br />Now things got weird. The FDLE report, which all but doomed Spaziano, was leaked sub- stantially to the Sentinel but minimally to other news out- lets. It con- tained all sorts of evidence not available in the original trial, including state- ments from sev- eral jailhouse snitches. Sealed by the governor's office allegedly to protect the safety of witnesses, the report would never be tested in court. Both the Sentinel and the Herald called for its release But the Herald was unable to speak to its major sources. Prosecutors "wanted to try that case in the Sentinel," gripes James Russ, the Orlando attor ney who replaced Mello as Spaziano's lead counsel. "And In the Sentinel they found a willing participant." <br /><br />The Herald attacked some of the reports' claims, like the one that said Spaziano had likely killed at least two other bikers in Chicago while he was on the run from Florida police. That case had been closed years ago with- out prosecution but with anoth- er suspect, the Herald reported.<br /><br />And as for the notion that DILisio still fears the Outlaws, "why did he have a listed phone [page end] <br /><br />[page start] from Mello, the attorney.<br /><br />The Sentinel reponded by reporting that Chicago police had reopened their 20-year-old murder case. Holmes, the Herald's expert, is doubtful. "Do they have people out actually interviewing people?" he scoffa, The FDLE report, he says, "offered all kinds of witnesses they did not produce in court. They Just assumed axiomatically the guy was guilty as hell." &nbsp;<br /><br />But there were questions raised about journalism ethics as well. Miller, the Herald editor, had sent a lengthy letter to Chiles in August, pleading for him to meet with Mello's wit- nesses while he mulled Spaziano's bid for clemency. The letter went through Sachs, then the governor's press officer. Sentinel editorials later cited letter to suggest the Herald was in bed with Spaziano's team. <br /><br />But the letter doesn't concern Sachs so much as what he regards as close ties between Miller and Mello at the project's beginning. "I think some stan- dards of journalism were breached," Sachs says. "The roots of the Herald's involvement were not properly planted." <br /><br />Although Halle insists there- was no war, Pancake recalls that a Chicago Tribune reporter enlisted by the Herald for help was quickly called off the case. The Herald is a Knight-Ridder paper, the Tribune is the flagship of the Tribune Co., which owns the Sentinel. (The Chicago writer eventually was listed as a con- tributor to a Sentinel report.)<br /><br />"Reporters and editors involved in both newspapers were not detached, were not objective," contends Sachs. They were determined on a sec- ondary level to prove each other wrong. I think there is gomepro- fessional pride in that, but I also think there is a danger in that kind of case, that maybe a side bar that should be written is nbt assigned because it might defuse the boom."<br /><br />The boom in this case is the new trial for Spaziano, a trial in which evidence is long gone and witnesses, their memories cloud- ed by time, can easily be Impeached. Herald editorials have said that Spaziano likely will remain behind bars for the rest of his life anyway, based on his eariler conviction in the rape of an Orlando teen. <br /><br />But the Heraldla Investigal- Ing the rape trial as well. Among the problems: The young victim failed to pick Spaziano from a lineup at first, and had described her attacker as having red hair and no tattoos: Spaziano has black hair and many tattoos And the main prosecution wit- ness was Tony DILisio. <br /><br />The court ruling gave the Herald its first victory. "The judge said he believed DILisio now," says Haile. "Reasonable people can disagree."<br /><br />But the question of whether justice won is still open. Holmes is convinced that Spaziano was a victim of anti-biker hysteria, which the Sentinel shamelessly renewed in its recent coverage. He says a close reading of the trial transcript leaves only the conclusion that Spaziano didn't get a fair trial. "They don't understand the margin of error in the criminal justice system." he says of the Sentinel, "To assume someone's guilty because they were found guilty is absurd. There is a legal truth and there is an absolute truth. They don't always coincide." <br /><br />Haile would probably agree. Evidence that is good enough for a news story may never stand in court, and Orlando now faces the prospect of Crazy Joe Spaziano, aging biker socialized by 20 years on death row, back on the streets. "It's really frus- trating," Haile says. "Here you have a case that's been lying around for 20 years, and now you're going to have a new trial? Gimme a break. You can't go back and find justice. <br /><br />The Herald's coverage was challenged on several occasions, most abruptly during the hear- ing that preceded Judge Eaton's ruling when its former associate editor, Tony Proscio, was approached by Sentinel reporter Jim Leusner, who asked, "Has the Herald lost its objectivity?"<br /><br />Proscio, who left the Herald this year, subsequently offered an impassioned defense of his paper and its viewpaint. "Does Florida dare-does any decent Society dare-to electrocute a human being based on a trial like the one they gave Joe SpazianD 20 years ago?" he wrote in a Jan. 21 op-ed plece. "And if so, why bother with trials at all?"<br /><br />Not included in Proscio's nar- rative, Sentinel staffers note, was the context: When Leusner asked his question, Proscio had just stepped down from the stand where he had been called to testify in Spaziano's defense. <br /><br />But Proscio's question still holds, and it leads to another, ane regarding the fundamental purpose and duty of the press. If the justice system falls, then what is a newspaper's duty? <br /><br />The danger in today's con- stricting media world comes from the assumption that painstaking objectivity -an excellent business strategy-also makes for excellent journalism. <br /><br />The Spaziano coverage by either the Sentinel or the Herald 10 puts the lie to that theory. Other newspapers can claim to have maintained their objectivity. But they can't claim to have made a difference. Or saved a life. <br /><br />[page end] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Spage, Wyatt Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Current Events Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Orlando (Fla.)--Maps Journalism False testimony Hypnotism Description An account of the resource The rivalry between two newspapers over the guilt or innocence of Joey Spaziano leads to a new trail, of a case that's over twenty years old. In the end, Justice won over newspaper sales. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ericsson Jr., Edward Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Orlando Weekly Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1996, February, 15-21 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 8 JPGS 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Orlando, Florida https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/03c551bb5b75ad8c73713d9d94a89dd1.jpg 5493d1f878d21519e97dd88f46f8b2bb https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/f9771f1da401b8c0b874a2dd2ad4eecf.jpg edc7037e3a4b45ba0903d2dbc40935a5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document Even as Ted Bundy spent much of the weekend confessing to unsolved murders, lawyers trying to keep him from the electric chair grew more hopeful that they can win a last-minute stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court. The reason for their optimism: a new, yet-to-be-aired issue for appeal that centers on whether a judge said the right things to a jury almost a decade ago when Bundy was on trial for killing 12-year-old Kimberly Leach in Lake City. Bundy, who is schedules to be executed Tuesday for the murder of Miss Leach, reportedly confessed over the weekend to killing at least nine young women. Those confessions stopped for a time Sunday, however, as the appeal that will be submitted this morning to the U.S. Supreme Court took shape. Additionally, Bundy called off an interview with reporters scheduled for today at noon. The issue that has surfaced—somewhat technical in nature—has to do with whether the judge overseeing the Leach trial conveyed to jurors how important their opinion would be to him when he decided Bundy’s sentence. Though a jury only advises a judge in capital cases on what it thinks is a proper sentence, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that death sentences can be thrown out on appeal if jurors have been led to believe their role isn’t significant. In the Leach trial, says at least one of the lawyers trying to keep Bundy alive, that’s exactly what happened. Michael Mello, a Vermont law professor who has been offering advice to Bundy’s team of lawyers in Florida, said Sunday that a review of the trial transcript shows that Judge Wallace M. Jopling repeatedly told jurors they would be making a “recommendation only” on the question of life or death and that “the judge has the final say.” Because of such comments, Mello said, there has been a growing hope among Bundy’s lawyers that Bundy could get a stay. “I’m optimistic,” Mello said. “This claim is shaping into a very powerful claim.” Gary Printy, a Florida assistant attorney general who has worked on the Bundy case, said he didn’t think Bundy would get very far with the appeal. “I wouldn’t hold my breath for Ted,” he said. However, Mello pointed out that the court has stayed two executions in Florida because of questions similar to the ones Bundy will attempt to raise today. The background of the appeal is this: In 1985, in a case called Caldwell vs. Mississippi, the Supreme Court ruled that convicted murderer Bobby Caldwell, who had been sentenced to death, was entitled to a new sentencing hearing because the judge and prosecutor had told jurors their decision on life or death would be “automatically reviewable.” The danger of such comments, the Supreme Court said in its opinion, is that the jury could “minimize the importance of its role.” Elaborating, the court went on to say, “Even when a sentencing jury is unconvinced that death is the appropriate punishment, it might nevertheless wish to ‘send a message’ of extreme disapproval for the defendant’s acts. This desire might make the jury receptive to the prosecutor’s assurance that it can err (in recommending death) because the error can be corrected on appeal. A defendant might then be executed, although no sentence had ever determined that death was the appropriate sentence.” Since the court’s decision was issued in June 1985, several Florida death row inmates have received stays of execution on the basis of what are known as “Caldwell claims,” and one inmate whose claim failed has been executed. One of the inmates who got a stay, Aubrey Adams, was on his third death warrant when the Supreme Court stopped his execution about 12 hours before he was to die in 1986. Te court, which heard arguments in Adams’ case in November, is expected to decide soon whether jurors were adversely affected when the judge said to them: “The final decision as to what punishment shall be imposed rests solely upon the judge of this court.” “That’s what jurors were told in the Leach trial, and it is one reason Bundy’s lawyers are hopeful. As late as Friday afternoon, the lawyers were anything but hopeful. Some were already wrestling with the notion that Bundy likely would be executed. Over the weekend, Mello said, lawyers who undertook the task of reading a transcript of the Leach trial found instance after instance of what they interpret as improper statements to jurors from both the judge and prosecutors. In one instance, Mello said, a prosecutor asked the juror who would later be foreman, “Do you understand that the judge would have ultimate responsibility?” In another instance, Mello said, a juror asked if she would be deciding whether Bundy would be sentenced to death, and Jopling replied, “No, ma’am. The jury renders and advisory opinion…the judge has the final say so.” In a third instance, according to Mello, Jopling told jurors, “The law places the awesome burden on the judge to decide the final penalty.” “It’s the combination,” Mello said, explaining why such statements might be important nine years after the conclusion of the Leach trial. “It’s the totality of the contents.” Asked whether in light of Bundy’s reported confessions such an appeal was making a mockery of the legal system, Mello said no. “When (jurors) aren’t told about their role, there’s a greater likelihood the jury will come back and recommend death. That’s the constitutional evil. That’s what the Caldwell decision is all about,” Mello said. “You may not think it’s a big deal, but the U.S. Supreme Court in Caldwell said it’s a very big deal. “Maybe we’ll get blown out of the Supreme Court on this, but the Supreme Court knows the issue, and Bundy’s got the issue.” Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Article Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Wilson, Ian Scott Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Last-minute strategy aims for Bundy stay Description An account of the resource Mello argues that there is a good case for a potential stay of execution for Bundy. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Finkel, David Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived St. Petersburg Times Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989-01-23 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPG Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida Subject The topic of the resource Serial murderers Supreme Court Bundy, Ted https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/504de99032b535e3978bb801b564c20d.jpg 21e5b2e508ee5e45592873f85884d2e7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 1, 1976-1979 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper aticle Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Martin Carille Text Any textual data included in the document <p style="text-align:left;"><br /><em>    Last week's episode left the cadre of Mary Washington revolutionaries alone in the dark of Seacobeck Hall--an unostentatious beginning for the infant regime. But after endurig a night in Seacobeck (it builds character, they say) the revolutionaries found renwed vigor. A week later we find them in full control of the dining hall and of neighboring Chandler Hall. The base of support has been broadened and the college was vitually paralyzed. But the Administration has yet to play its hand . . .<br /><br /></em>    President Prince Briggs Woodard leaned back in his swivel chair, exhausted. He was rudely disturbed by the buzzing of the intercom. Startled he fell backwards, catching himself on the edge of the desk.<br />    He lifted the receiver, bracing himself for the unbearable wheezing of his private secretary.<br />    “Mr. President, Mr. Mello from the Washington Post is here for his appointment.”<br />    “Mello?!” Ward blurted in near hysteria.<br />    His secretary’s voice fell to a whisper. “Not the same one, Mr. President, not even related. We had him checked out when he called for his appointment.”<br />    “Thank God,” the President sighed. “Give me a minute, then send him in.” He hung up, not waiting for an answer.<br />    What was happening? Leave for a week and come back to find open rebellion! A shooting! Violent retaliation? And then what?  Nothing! “We didn’t want to do anything until you got back, Mr. President,” Bishop said.<br />    Obviously, no one understood him when he had said that the only threat to college security came from the inside! Now, despite his best efforts, word of the disturbance had leaked. Must have been one of those damned day students. “I know I should’ve locked ’em in their damned lounge,” he mumbled to himself.<br />    What would he tell the reporter? The truth. Always the truth. But in what form?<br />    The door swung open and the Post reporter entered. To Woodard’s delight, the man was nearly his age—but oh how the poor man showed it! Those ugly lines, that white hair, and that double chin. Woodard smiled.<br />    “Mister Mello! It’s my pleasure to have you here. It’s not often we get someone from the Post. What’s on your mind? Clean drug record this year . . . And I’m sure you noticed how many boys—er—men we have this year, but our women, OUR WOMEN! They’re still as attractive as ever, eh?” He winked slyly.<br />    The reporter did not respond. Instead, he pulled out a small pad from his breast pocket and flicked it open ominously.<br />    “Is it true that you’ve been serving store-bought cold cuts in the dormitories for dinner for the last week?<br />    Woodard’s face dropped, then he smiled coyly raising a chubby finger in realization. He walked over to his desk and stared intently at his calendar.<br />    “I thought so,” he remarked finally. “Halloween. You’ve been trying to throw a scare into me. How trite. Who put you up to this—Ray? Ed? Forrest? Who?”<br />    “Dr. Woodard, before I came over here, I took the liberty to look around a little bit. Tell me frankly, sir, have classes begun yet or are you taking a semester off?<br />    “Oh that!” Woodard pounded his fist on the desk. “It’s Halloween. We’ve never had classes on Halloween . . . as long as I’ve been here anyway.”<br />    The reporter breathed impatiently. “Dr. Woodard, do you know where your students are right now?”<br />    Woodard was outraged and he tried in vain to hide it. “Of course, I make a point of touring this campus at least once a week . . .” He stumbled over his words. “Mister Mello, I take great offense at your insinuations. If I have nothing else I have control over this campus. I make sure of that!”<br />    The reporter seemed placated. He shook his head pensively. He replaced the pad in his pocket and turned towards the door. Stopping short, he fished diligently in his pocket and pulled out a dime. He flipped it into the unsteady hands of the President.<br />    “There, now you have something.” He closed the door behind him.<br />    Woodard waited until he heard the wheezing amenities of his secretaries and the closing of the outer door. Immediately, he summoned his secretary on the intercom.</p> <p>“Mrs. Johnson, take this down. First, tell Servant to have his people report to Secobeck as usual starting tomorrow morning. We’re going to storm it.”<br />    He paused. “And get Chief Bishop on the phone for me . . . oh, and Mrs. Johnson, how many loyal students are there now? Is that all? Have them assemble in the ballroom immediately.”<br />    The wheezing voice protested.<br />    Woodard raised his eyebrows. “Cannon fodder? Oh no, nothing like that. It’s just that the rebellion is too obvious. We need them to attend more classes and walk around a little more. I want no one in their dorms before dark. That’s all.”<br />    The President listed impatiently to the pointless, but friendly suggestions. Finally, her voice tailed off and she hung up politely.<br />    The harried college president grinded his teeth as he began to develop a scheme.<br />    “Hmm, cannon fodder!” he thought to himself . . .<br /><br /><strong>TO BE CONTINUED</strong></p> <p><strong>Note</strong>: This writer feels no personal animosity towards Dr. Woodard or any other characters used (and to be used) in this series. <strong>Character distortions are purely for satirical purposes.<br /><br /></strong></p> Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Coup d'Etat Part IV Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gathski Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Gathski. "The Coup d'Etat Part IV." <em>The Bullet</em>. October 30, 1979. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1979-10-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 jpg 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource University of Mary Washington--Newspaper--Satire Satire--University of Mary Washington Description An account of the resource The fourth part of a satiracal column about a student protest articulated as if it were a revolution. This part depicts President Woodard's realization of the revolution's severity and his plan on combating it. 1979 Fredericksburg Gathski Michael A. Mello Michael Mello Prince B. Woodward Prince Woodard Satire University of Mary Washington https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/4c0565f4c3d6e96b230f1d3c4e595676.jpg cf87ca7503711adb41e07de7296c92e2 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/a76ea5cef3bfbebe7c7aa0a46c29a65c.jpg 00ded049128afc576508d9868c9f0691 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 1, 1976-1979 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Huffman, Suzanne Text Any textual data included in the document With the sounds of Woodstock playing softly in the background nearly 100 Mary Washington College students returned, if only briefly, to the days of meaningful protest yesterday.<br /><br />On the nicest day of the year so far the students took time out from sunbathing, frisbee-throwing and studying to protest the suspension of four male MWC students arrested for possession of marijuana last week.<br /><br />While an undercurrent of resentment about the arrests themselves was evident at the hour-long rally, the organizers emphasized the demonstration was held to protest the students' suspension without a hearing.<br /><br />By suspending the students before they appear in General District Court to face the misdemeanor marijuana charges, the MWC administration found them "guilty before being proven innocent," said speaker Mike Mello.<br /><br />Arrested in the raid on the Madison Hall dormitory were: William P. Crawford, 19, of Alexandria; Charles W. Houlgrace, 20, of Richmond; Randolph P. Hart, 19, of Morgantown, W. VA.; and a 17-year-old juvenile. A fifth student, Seth F. Schrager, 18, of Alexandria was also arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and possession of smoking equipment, was not suspended.<br /><br />MWC President Prince B. Woodard was asked to attend yesterday's rally but according to the organizers, declined.<br /><br />The students said they would present petitions to Woodard on Monday registering an official protest of the suspensions. None of the suspended students, who are barred from campus, could be present yesterday.<br /><br />Mello said the raid was "unprecedented" in MWC history. One of the students, he noted, was arrested for the possession of 12 marijuana.<br /><br />Mello challenged the action of the MWC police in conducting the raid on the students' rooms. "It was the first time they could act like real police, make a real search, appear before real judges, and make real arrests. It was a moment in the sun for our keystone cops," he told cheering protesters.<br /><br />The students' suspensions, coupled with possible court action "smacks of double jeopardy," Mello said. <br /><br />The protesting students lounged about in bikinis and listened to the speakers over the din of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young songs which provided the beat to many anti-war protests in the late 60s and early 70s. <br /><br />Many of the students wore black armbands with NORML (National Organization for the Repeal of Marijuana Laws) buttons attached. <br /><br />And while the suspensions were the focal point of protest the call for marijuana reform hung heavy over the event.<br /><br />Rich Ford, an Alexandria attorney who represented the Virginia NORML organization at the rally, questioned whether marijuana possession was the "serious crime: the MWC administration claimed it was in handing out the suspensions.<br /><br />Noting that 50 million Americans have smoked marijuana, Ford said, "If the administration suspends everyone here that has smoked marijuana, I would guess they'd have a preciously small student body.<br /><br />"This is a bit a serious crime, it is not. a serious problem, it is simply a choice of a recreational drug," Ford added.<br /><br />Eric Wooten, a member of the MWC student government who was among the protest's organizers, questioned some of the school's priorities and rules.<br /><br />Acknowledge that marijuana possession is illegal, Wooten said the MWC administration " condones these keg parties every Saturday night where everybody just gets smashed," yet suspends other students for finding different outlet.<br /><br />The four students, all freshmen, are expected to be reinstated two weeks after their suspensions took effect. Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rally Protests Suspensions Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Geigerich, Steve Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1979-03-31 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Fredericksburg, VA Subject The topic of the resource Protest movements--United States Description An account of the resource A newspaper article written by Steve Geigerich that discusses protests held by Mary Washington College students over marijuana-use suspensions. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Geigerich, Steve. "Rally Protests Suspensions". The Free-Lance Star (Fredericksburg, VA), March 31, 1979. Marijuana Michael A. Mello student activism Student Protest https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/947dd70c6d9b991d58d605de8a8ed09f.jpg 973e8e3fad62451a946bffb7d88c8fbb https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/540d35160035eecc47f7e1f22ddec544.jpg 164311b72d0b7e50e15358041221889e https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/b415b0ed37076ab6eb0e059ca71e8816.jpg c01404625591ceca5823f6de35f53d5b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Roszell, William Text Any textual data included in the document <div> <div>[start of the first page] </div> <div></div> [Text above title]</div> <div>HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. SPAZIANO</div> <div></div> <div>[Title]</div> <div>Court Gives ‘Crazy Joe’ 11th-Hour Reprieve</div> <div></div> <div>[subtext below title]</div> <div>A lawyer makes his case in the press, convincing hard-bitten editors of the client’s innocence.</div> <div></div> <div>BY LINDA GIBSON</div> <div>SPECIAL TO THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL</div> <div></div> <div>[start of the first column] </div> <div></div> <div>CONDEMNED PRISONER Joseph Spaziano gambled that the press could keep the state from executing him. So far, he’s won. On Sept. 12, his 50th birthday, the Florida Supreme Court granted him a stay of execution and ordered a lower court hearing to be scheduled by Nov. 15. He was to have been electrocuted Sept. 21. </div> <div></div> <div>His pro bono attorney, Vermont Law School Prof. Michael Mello, bet Mr. Spaziano’s life on resourceful reporters and eloquent editorials. Sparked by a column Professor Mello wrote for the Miami Herald, the newspaper interviewed the main witness against Mr. Spaziano. The witness told reporter Lori Rozsa that he’d been a drug-addled delinquent teenager who had concocted his story at the prodding of investigators during hypnosis sessions. Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles issued a stay of execution 12 days before the inmate’s June 27 date with Old Sparky. But on Aug. 24, the governor reversed himself and issued a fifth death warrant based on the confidential statements of newly found witnesses whom he has refused to identify publicly.</div> <div></div> <div>The odds that Mr. Spaziano would beat this lat-<br /> <div>[end of the first column] </div> <div></div> <br /> <div>[start of the second column] </div> <div>est warrant were as slim as the evidence that put him on death row 19 years ago.</div> </div> <div></div> <div>In 1975, police charged “Crazy Joe” Spaziano, a member of the Outlaws motorcycle gang in Orlando, with the 1973 rape-torture slaying of 18-year-old hospital clerk Laura Lynn Harberts. Her remains were found in a rural garbage dump along with those of another still-unidentified victim. The prosecution’s sole evidence was the testimony of Anthony DiLisio, who said Crazy Joe took him to the dump to view the corpses and described how he had tortured the girls by showing them pieces of their bodies that he had sliced off. State v. Spaziano, 393 So.2d 1119 (Fla. Sup. Ct. 1981).</div> <div></div> <div>Sensational though it was, even prosecutor Claude Van Hook acknowledged Mr. DiLisio’s testimony was the state’s total case against Mr. Spaziano. “If you don’t believe Tony DiLisio,” he told the jury at the 1975 trial, “then find this defendant not guilty in five minutes.”</div> <div></div> <div>Jurors deadlocked twice in six hours. Finally, they came back with a guilty verdict but recommended life in prison. Seminole County Circuit Court Judge Robert McGregor overruled them and sentenced Mr. Spaziano to death. Jurors didn’t know, the judge told reporters later, that the defendant had a previous conviction for rape.</div> <div></div> <div></div> <div><strong>Harbored a Grudge</strong></div> <div></div> <div>They also didn’t know, however, that Mr. DiLisio’s testimony had been elicited by hypnosis sessions with a practitioner whose work in other cases had been questioned. In 1985, Florida banned testimony based on hypnosis as unreliable but failed to make the ban retroactive. Mr. DiLisio also had made heavy use of hallucinogenic drugs as a teenage and <br /> <div>[end of the second column] </div> <div></div> <br /> <div>[start of the third column] </div> <div>had harbored a grudge against Mr. Spaziano over the latter’s relationship with his stepmother, defense lawyers say.</div> </div> <div><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Professor Mello and other attorneys raised these points during years of stay applications and briefs.<br /><br /></div> <div><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>“None of that made the slightest difference,” he said, citing rules that prohibit state and federal courts from reviewing evidence that wasn’t raised at trial. “Because of all this, no court has ever ruled on the merits of Mr. Spaziano’s evidence demonstrating his innocence.”<br /><br /></div> <div>By the spring of this year, every legal recourse had been exhausted. With a fourth death warrant sign had been exhausted. With a fourth death warrant sign and an execution date set, Professor Mello gave up the law and sought help from a highly reluctant source Miami Herald editor Gene Miller.<br /><br /></div> <div>“People thought I’d lost my mind. The Herald is an extremely conservative institution,” said Professor Mello. “They’re in favor of the death penalty. But I figured if I could convince the Herald, I could convince anyone with an open mind.”</div> <div></div> <div>[End the first page]</div> <div><br />[Start the second page]</div> <div><br />[small text on the right side of the image]</div> <div>AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS</div> <div><br />[Text below image]</div> <div>Turned 50: The stay came on Joseph Spaziano’s birthday.</div> <div><br /><br /></div> <div>[text in box]</div> <div><strong>CASE AT A GLANCE</strong></div> <div>Venue: Florida Supreme Court</div> <div>CONDEMNED PRISONER: Joseph “Crazy Joe” Spaziano</div> <div>DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Prog. Michael Mello of Vermont Law School</div> <div>SUMMARY: Mr. Spaziano, scheduled for execution Sept. 21, was given another reprieve when the Florida Supreme Court ordered a hearing into the recantation of the main witness against him. The witness told a reporter that he had concocted his testimony at the prodding of investigators.</div> <div>[End second image]</div> <div><br />[Start the third page]</div> <div><br />[Start the first column]</div> <div>Mr. Miller’s skepticism as a reporter is legendary. In 1976, he won a second Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the case of Wilbert Lee and Freddie Pitts. They’d spent years on Florida’s death row for a murder that hadn’t committed, until someone else confessed. After Mr. Millers 1875 book “Invitation to a Lynching,” he was deluged with requests from inmates and attorneys who wanted him to look at their cases, too. He said he never expected to see another one like Pitts and Lee.</div> <div></div> <div><strong>Read Transcripts</strong></div> <div>But Mr. Miller agreed to take a phone call from Professor Mello after the lawyer enlisted the aid of a friend who approached Mr. Miller’s daughter. The editor agreed to read a chapter about the Spaziano case in a book Professor Mello was writing on death row representation. Then Mr. Miller asked to see the trail transcript, police reports and tapes of Mr. DiLisio’s hypnosis sessions. On Friday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend, Mr. Miller dropped it all off with another legendary skeptic, investigator Warren Holmes of Holmes Polygraph Services Inc., in Miami.<br /><br /></div> <div>Mr. Holmes has worked with the Herald for 30 years. He’s participated in such cases as the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and President Kennedy and is known for his work on the Pitts and Lee case. <br /><br /></div> <div>He wasn’t happy about Mr. Miller dumping a load of papers on him just before a holiday weekend, but he expected to spend no more than half an hour on them before concluding that Mr. Spaziano was guilty. More than 10 hours later, however, the investigator called Professor Mello. “He told me that he had reviewed between 1,200 and 1,400 transcripts in his time, and he had thought that three men were innocent: Pitts, Lee and Joesph Spaziano,” said Professor Mello.<br /><br /></div> <div>Mr. Holmes next went to the Herald: “I told them there was something radically wrong with the case.”</div> <div>Mention in the records of hypnotist Joe B. McCawley set off bells. Mr. McCawley had helped convict Messrs. Pitts and Lee through a dramatic, but suspect “hypnosis” session of a witness conducted right in the courtroom. Psychologists and psychiatrists have viewed Mr. McCawley’s sessions with Mr. DiLiso with skepticism.<br /><br /></div> <div>“We found the hypnotist is a guy with a very checkered record,” said Herald state desk editor John Pancake. “The key thing you can see looking at the file was [Spaziano] was convicted on hypnotically enhanced testimony. That’s no longer admissible.”<br /><br /></div> <div>Mr. McCawley now is director of the Ethical Hypnosis Training Center in Orlando. Reacting to comments about his work in the case, he said “I would expect that. Ignorance breeds a lot of contempt.”<br /><br /></div> <div></div> <div><strong>Wrote Column</strong></div> <div></div> <div>But before the paper would act, it insisted that Professor Mello write an article about the case. Editors also dictated that the lawyer had to mention within the first few paragraphs that his 70 clients on death row, Mr. Spaziano was the only one he thought was innocent. Professor Mello resisted until the paper delivered an ultimatum: no column, no Herald investigation.<br />[end of the first column]<br /><br />[Start of the second column]</div> <div>Professor Mello capitulated. Mr. Miller edited the column and then took an extraordinary step. Instead of treating the story competitively, he arranged to have it run simultaneously June 4 in the Herald, the St. Petersburg Times and the Orlando Sentinel. He also called syndicated columnists James J. Kilpatrick, who responded with a column published June 8 calling on Governor Chiles to issue clemency.</div> <div><br />Meanwhile, Herald reporter Ms. Rozsa found Mr. Dilisio, now a sober, 38-year-old part-time preacher, in Pensacola. On her third attempt to talk to him, he let her in and spilled his guts.</div> <div><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>He didn’t remember Crazy Joe taking him to the dump. <br /><br />He didn’t remember the hypnosis, the trail and his testimony. “How do I know what I said back then was reliable? Especially if it came out under hypnosis,” he said. Mr. DiLisio’s recantation, published June 11, fell like a bomb on the seemingly unalterable course of events that follow the signing of a death warrant. Said Mr. Pancake. “We were really stunned.”</div> <div><br />The Herald followed up with a June 13 editorial calling on Governor Chiles to halt the execution. On the 14th, it published a detailed article by Associate Editor Tony Proscio that included excerpts from Mr. DiLisio’s hypnosis sessions. “I’m not crusading to save the life of this one guy,” Mr. Proscio said. “This is about procedure, justice and the integrity of the death penalty.”<br /><br /></div> <div>On June 15, Governor Chiles issued a stay and ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate. In addition to interviewing Mr. DiLision, agents found new witnesses who claimed Mr. DiLisio had talked about viewing the bodies even before he was hypnotized and others who said Mr. Spaziano had admitted the killings to them. Agents promised them confidentially because they feared retaliation from the Outlaws. On that basis, and with the help of a recently passed and little-known exemption from Florida’s tough public records laws, the governor sealed the report and issued a fifth death warrant.<br /><br /></div> <div>While reporters try to get hold of the secret report, Professor Mello and public defense lawyers here are arguing over who will represent Crazy Joe for what might be his final hearing.<br /><br /></div> <div>What happens, he’s decided not to take his client’s case back into federal court, a most unusual tactic that dismays his associates. “What we must do is maximize the pressure on Chiles,” he said. “That means, getting access to the report and it’s underlying materials and exposing them as the product of a whitewash with a foreordained conclusion.<br /><br /></div> <div>“During my 12 years as a capital post-conviction litigator, I swore I would never try any of my cases in the media. Now, I swear I will never try one in court.”</div> <div><br />[End of article]</div> Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Court gives 'Crazy Joe' 11th-hour reprieve Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gibson, Linda Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Language A language of the resource English Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The National Law Journal Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 3 JPGs 300 DPI Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-09-25 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Miami, FL Subject The topic of the resource Spaziano, Joe Death row inmates--Florida--Case studies. Description An account of the resource “Crazy Joe” Spaziano receives a last-minute stay of execution on his 50th birthday September 25, 1995. In 1975 police charged Joe Spaziano with the 1973 rape-torture slaying of 18-year-old hospital clerk Laura Lynn Harberts. Jurors found Spaziano guilty of all charges but recommended life in prison however, Judge Robert McGregor overruled their ruling and sentenced Mr. Spaziano to death citing a previous rape conviction. Professor Mello and other attorneys raised questions about the case and challenged the ruling in court winning multiple stays of execution. "Crazy Joe" Spaziano death penalty Death sentence Florida Death Row Joe Spaziano Michael A. Mello Michael Allen Mello Michael Mello https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/57412098c86208e6d611777a1fbb729a.jpg ef7ee0b1bdee20dc67dcb46a967776d7 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/cd22a5768e3a2a0fa8f9d5395872381e.jpg ebfc4ef74ccda56bceb7103d0cfed1fd Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 5 Text Text Any textual data included in the document MONTPELIER - For the first time, Gov. Howard Dean has publicly voiced his support for the death penalty. After debating the issue for years, Dean said Wednesday, "I do think the death penalty is appropriate for certain.... (crimes), such as the murder of children and the killing of police officers in the line of duty." Dean has previously opposed capital punishment. The governor, who is also a medical doctor, was asked at his weekly news conference if his view conflicted with the physicians' pledge to "do no harm." He replied: " 'Do no harm' also, I think, pertains to letting people out of jail ... who would be a terrible harm to innocent people." Despite his statement of support, Dean said not to expect him to push lawmakers to revive the death penalty in Vermont. For one thing, he said, he doesn't think the Legislature would endorse it. He's probably right about that, said one legislator who has tried for years to dell the idea inside the Statehouse. While Rep. Nancy Sheltra, R-Derby, welcomed Dean's support, she wondered if it was a "political ploy." Dean has been traveling the country in recent months, prompting speculation that he might run for president in 2000. Sheltra wonders whether he's simply trying to win over death penalty supporters in other states. See DEAN, 12A [end page] [start page] [image] [image caption] Vermont hasn't used the electric chair since 1954. [end page] [start page] DEAN: Governor switches death-penalty stance Continued from Page 1A "It's very easy to make a political stand like that when you know you don't have to deal with it here," she said. "If you really believe in something, you're out there working for it." Vermont has executed 26 people, the last one in 1954, according to state archives. Most were hanged; five died in the electric chair, which is mothballed in a basement near Dean's office--with, according to one account, "its arms still bearing the scratch marks of dying men." Vermont abolished the penalty for most offenses in 1965. In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down nationwide as unconstitutional. After the high court opened the door again four years later, 38 states brought the penalty back. Vermont was not among them. Vermont Law School Professor Michael Mello says Dean should think twice about joining a troubled club. "This is a very dangerous road for him to be leading Vermont down," Mello said. "It's a myth to think that the death penalty will only be reserved for the worst of the worst." [large font] "Death row isn't populated by the people who committed the worst crimes; death row is populated by the people who had the worst lawyers." Michael Mello, Vermont Law School professor Mello speaks from experience as a lawyer defending death row inmates in the South. He recently helped win a new trial for Florida man, Joseph Spaziano, who was about to be executed when new information surfaced to bolster his claim of innocence. Death penalty in Vermont HANGING: Between 1788 and 1912, 21 people were hanged, two of them women. ELECTRIC CHAIR: Between 1912 and 1954, five people were executed in the electric chair. Source: Vermont Secretary of State's Office "Death row isn't populated by the people who committed the worst crimes; death row is populated by the people who had the worst lawyers," Mello said. In states with the death penalty, he said, innocent people inevitably die. Dean said he changed his mind based on "heinous" crimes, including the 1993 murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas in California. Closer to home, he cited the murder of Paulette Crickmore, a Richmond girl who disappeared on her way to school in 1986 and was found murdered. He denied trying to score national political points, saying that Klaas case began the "evolution" of his thinking. "Certainly nobody could have even thought about... (a presidential bid) in 1993." Nor, he said, would he argue that capital punishment would prevent the "heinous" murderers he would like to punish. "If I thought the death penalty was going to stop the next depraved murder that might occur in Vermont, I would asked the Legislature to enact it," he said. "I truly don't believe it's a deterrent." Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Chiarello, Frances Student Editor of the Digital Item Van Doren, Jamie Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dean supports death penalty Subject The topic of the resource Death penalty Description An account of the resource The Governor spoke about his position on the death penalty and the appropriate usage of the death penalty for the state of Vermont. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Good, Jeffrey Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Good, Jeffrey. "Dean supports death penalty; Governor changes position on 'heinous' crimes." Burlington Free Press, October 23, 1997. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-10-23 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Vermont death penalty Michael A. Mello https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/45b3af43beccbe1e4a864a352345d414.jpg e745a14aee0b1cc9da3ffa8a465bdafb Text Text Any textual data included in the document Theodore Kaczynski was improperly denied his day in court argues a Vermont law professor who won Kaczynski's cooperation to write a book about his case. “I do not believe that Theodore Kaczynski was a paranoid schizophrenic” as his lawyers claimed, Vermont Law School professor Michael Mello said in a talk Wednesday at the law school. Mello has exchanged letters for about a year with the Unabomber, who is at a federal “supermax” prison in Colorado. Mello argues in his recently published, critically acclaimed book, “U.S.A. v. Theodore John Kaczynski: Ethics, Power and the Invention of the Unabomber,” that it was wrong to box Kaczynski into entering a guilty plea – even though [Picture of Michael Mello] letting him go to trial almost certainly would have ended in his execution for the murders of three people and maimings of 23 others with mail bombs. Mello said the case had raised “some of the most basic questions about the nature of attorney-client relationship in capital cases.” As Mello put them: [Black Square] “Should court-appointed lawyers be allowed to force a mental illness defense upon a client who specifically and emphatically rejects it, and who is mentally competent to stand trial?” Mello argued New York subway gunman Colin Ferguson was far more mentally ill than Kaczynski, but was allowed to stand trial. [Black Square] “Can a mentally competent, citizen-accused be denied the right to self-representation?” U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. turned down Kaczynski’s request that he be allowed to dismiss his lawyers and represent himself. When one man in the audience, who identified himself as a physician, argued Kaczynski was a paranoid schizophrenic, Mello replied that a major part of the definition of that psychiatric disease is that the patient must be delusional. “Where’s the delusion?” he asked. Mello argued Kaczynski was evil, but that he had rationally calculated that his threat to send more deadly mail bombs would get his 35,000-word manifesto published in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Clip Student Editor of the Digital Item William Goodman Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lawyer: Kaczynski Wronged Subject The topic of the resource Kaczynski, Theodore John, 1942-2023 -- Trials, litigation, etc Mello, Michael -- Authorship Description An account of the resource David Gram of the Associated Press writes about Michael Mello's argument that the Unabomber should be allowed to represent himself. Mello disagrees with the state's decision to declare Kaczynski a paranoid schizophrenic despite Kaczynski's emphatic rejection of the label. Mello further argues that Kaczynski was evil, but not delusional as it took careful planning to execute his attacks. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gram, David Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Associated Press Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 299, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant South Royalton, VT Mello Michael Mello Ted Kaczynski Unabomber https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/388c694bbfed67a0fc63ec84d1e802b6.jpg 8064ef7e7d042dfc5ea2cd85621a30ec https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/c52876238ec320b277237025834b48f0.jpg 7613c7ea8e1bcc31f8fc311c298950fb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 1, 1976-1979 Text Text Any textual data included in the document Dear Editor: <br /><br />Since the beginning of this semester, there has been much discussion of NORML in this newspaper. For the first two or three issues of The Bullet, I found the topic interesting, although a bit antiquated. Now, I am completely bored with the subject and wish to know if it would be possible to move on?<br /><br />I am very aware of NORML’s goals. I admire what the organization is trying to accomplish, but the recent devotion of this editorial column to NORML is puzzling. It is true that this column is supposed to be a sounding board, but when it is dominated by one particular person’s opinion, one begins to ask his or herself if perhaps there is a brainwashing attempt going on. <br /><br />My advise is to let a dead horse die. There are certainly more relevant topics that can be considered within this paper. Apathy in itself is a crime, but fanaticism has no place in a newspaper. <br /><br />Respectfully yours, Frances W. Gravatt Drug Reality <br /><br />Dear Editor: <br /><br />Obviously there is much interest in the drug use at Mary Washington College as indicated by the published responses to my comments about NORML (The National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws). Many responses contained statements deserve comment. <br /><br />Tom Chasen argues that my “statements are those of an anarchist.” But nowhere in my letter did I advocate the elimination of government. What I and other Libertarians do advocate is the elimination of all laws which deal with victimless crimes-such as laws involving drug production, sale and use, prostitution, gambling etc. Actually I am a strong proponent of a government, but a government that is limited to performing functions which are appropriate to it, such as dealing with real crimes like murder, theft, rape etc., which do have victims. <br /><br />Maureen Riley asserts that “there are many pragmatic arguments against decriminalization. These would be multiplied in strength, application and support against legalization.” I wish that I knew of just one pragmatic or positive argument that could stand up under the test of reality. The main argument for outlawing drugs, according to those who support such laws, is that these laws will prevent harmful drugs from getting into the hands of people and thus protect them from injury. But in reality just the opposite occurs. <br /><br />Drugs, although they are now outlawed, are readily available today to anyone who really wants to obtain them. Young children get them and become addicts. Students at Mary Washington College get drugs, apparently easily, and use them (if I can believe what other students tell me). Even prisoners in jail get drugs, and yet it is the government who runs these jails. If the government cannot prevent locked up citizens from obtaining drugs, how could it possibly prevent free citizens from getting them? It can’t, and it doesn’t! <br /><br />But that is not the purpose of outlawing drugs. The purpose is to establish control of some people over the lives of other people (we are not dealing with drug control, but people control). And in the process there is a set up an extensive black market (mainly run by the mafia). In which enormous profits can be made and kickbacks can be obtained by those who choose to look the other way. Bribery and corruption of law enforcement officers inevitably results when drugs, as well as gambling and prostitution, are outlawed. Also, since these laws are often broken and not uniformly applied (enforced), or are recognized to be irrational and thus ignored, there results an increase in general disrespect for law. With widespread corruption respect is lost in law enforcement officers and even in government itself. <br /><br />Doug James thinks that my idealism has blinded me to the realities of today’s drug situation. But exactly the opposite is the case. It has been estimated that approximately 50 per cent of all crimes are drug related. This does not mean that individuals crammed full of drugs are dashing around committing crimes simply because of the presence of drugs in their systems. What it does mean is that people who are hooked on drugs must spend fantastic sums of money to obtain these very high priced drugs (which are only high priced because they are outlawed). In order to get the money for these purchases many drug users find it necessary to rob, assault, mug or murder others. <br /><br />Therefore the reality of the drug situation is that the government is setting you up! There is a far greater chance that you will be a victim of a real and serious crime precisely because certain drugs are outlawed. The reality is that there are hundreds of drug pushers out there getting young and innocent people to try drugs and wrecking their lives in the process, a point Michael Mello seems oblivious of when expressing his fear of children buying drugs at a local store should they become legal. Children are already buying which are being vigorously hustled by pushers, and they are probably often bought precisely because they are outlawed-they are forbidden and thus more desirable. <br /><br />Drug pushers only exist because the government outlaws the sale of marijuana and other drugs, thus causing prices and profits to be very high. If drugs were sold openly on the free market they would be so cheap, and the profit so low, that the incentive to push drugs would be eliminated. One doesn’t find pushers of alcohol or cigarettes in school yards, but one does find pushers of drugs. <br /><br />Michael Mello makes his and NORML’s position on marijuana quite clear in his letter. They are simply seeking decriminalization and not legalization. He points out that “under such policy (decriminalization) marijuana would still be technically illegal.” Precisely! And this is a major problem. <br /><br />Just suppose the people in the 1920’s and 30’s who saw what alcohol prohibition was doing to the country took a position similar to NORML’s. Instead of seeking a repeal of the 18th Amendment which outlawed the production, sale and transportation of alcohol they would have simply said: “By all means keep this prohibition, but just modify it a bit (decriminalize it) to allow us to have a drink in our home, make a little home brew or wine etc. and perhaps even exchange a bit of alcohol for an insignificant consideration. But certainly no one should be allowed to produce, sell or advertise this drug.” Just think of the even greater mess this country would now be in had they taken such a position. Fortunately for us all they did not, but instead called for an end to prohibition! And this is precisely what NORML should do concerning marijuana (even if it is not interested in other drugs or the concept of prohibition per se). <br /><br />I appreciate the invitation extended by Michael Mello to speak at a future meeting of NORML. But might I suggest an alternative. Perhaps NORML would like to sponsor an Open Forum, possibly to be held in Ann Carter Lee Ballroom, and allow me to briefly present the Libertarian views concerning drugs and Michael Mello or another spokesperson to present NORML’s. We could then answer questions from the audience. I believe such an event would be both mentally stimulating and most educational. <br /><br />Sincerely, <br />Thomas Johnson <br />Professor of Biology Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper article Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Dickerson, Courtney Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Enough of NORML Subject The topic of the resource Legalization and decriminalization of marijuana Description An account of the resource Thomas Johnson and Frances Gravatt wrote to the editor of The Bullet about NORML. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gravatt, Frances W. Johnson, Thomas Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Gravatt, Frances W. and Thomas Johnson. "Enough of NORML." The Bullet, November 8, 1976 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1976-11-08 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 3 JPG 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Fredericksburg, VA Decriminalization Legalization Marijuana Mary Washington Bullet Mary Washington College Michael A. Mello https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/9673bb57072622209461797ee03ab40d.jpg e8f50edc45e660aa1fd81170b90ad97f https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/68df457b36014a2f02f30c5810e8e09e.jpg 1cd43411217c07114149f6d7b410ac09 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/a0286f09949f613d43e7ae6b27b4706e.jpg 57b610ebe113b0cf8f1732aecbd1c2aa Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Text Any textual data included in the document In a first-degree murder case, when a judge and a jury don’t see eye-to-eye on the sentence, as has occurred at least five times in the last seven years in Escambia County, the judge gets the last word. In four local cases, judges overrode jury recommendations for life in prison and imposed the death penalty, deciding that aggravating circumstances outweighed mitigating circumstances. And in one case, a judge overrode a jury recommendation for the death penalty and imposed a life sentence. It’s a system that Chief Escambia Circuit Judge M.C. Blanchard would like to see changed: He’s in favor of proposed legislation that would require judges to follow jury recommendations for life sentences but would allow them to override jury recommendations for death. “It would help a great deal in keeping our death penalty constitutional.” He said, adding that the jury should have access to the same pre-sentence information – currently, some of it is confidential – that the judge has in determining the sentence. Here’s a rundown of the five local cases: In 1978, Judge George Lowrey ignored a jury’s advice and sentenced to death Thomas McCampbell, convicted in the murder of Winn-Dixie security guard Buddy Ray. The Florida Supreme Court later upheld the conviction but reversed the death sentence. In 1979, Judge William Frye overruled a jury recommendation for a life sentence and imposed the death penalty on Marvin Edwin Johnson, Convicted in the killing of Warrington pharmacist Woodrow Moulton. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the conviction and sentence, and Johnson is on death row. In 1980, in a rare reverse decision, Frye overrode a jury recommendation for death and sentenced Edward Clifton Cleveland to life in prison for murdering a 15-year-old runaway girl and then dismembering her body and placing some parts in sealed garbage bags. In 1983, Judge Joseph Tarbuck overrode a jury recommendation for life and sentenced to death Anthony Brown, accused in the murder of Veteran’s Gas Co. delivery man James Dasinger. Three weeks ago, after a retrial won on a technicality, Brown was acquitted, the result of the star prosecution witness flip-flopping on his testimony. Also in 1983, Judge William Rowlet overrode a jury’s recommendation and sentenced to death William Eutzy, convicted in the murder of West Hill Taxi Stand driver Herman Hughley. The Florida Supreme Court upheld that conviction, and Eutzy is on death row. Exactly what goes through a jury’s mind during its secret proceedings is difficult to determine; by contrast, judges are required by law to provide a written explanation for imposition of the death penalty. What follows is a look back at the Johnson and Brown cases. In court testimony, Warrington Pharmacy employee Gary Summitt, an eyewitness, gave this account of Marvin Johnson’s armed robbery and murder of Woodrow MoultonL Summitt went to the back of the store to as Moulton a question and found Johnson holding a gun on Moulton and ordering him to fill a bag with drugs and money. After obtaining what he wanted, Johnson started toward the front of the store, and Moulton grabbed a gun from behind the prescription counter. There was an exchange of gunfire, with Moulton firing at Johnson until his gun was emptied. No longer able to defend himself, Moulton stood up with his hands in the air. Johnson walked to within a foot and a half of him, said, “You think you’re a smart son-of-a-bitch, don’t you?”, shot him in the chest and fled. The jury after finding Johnson guilty, recommended that Judge Frye impose a life sentence. Instead, Frye sentenced Johnson to death, a decision that was upheld in a split decision by the Florida Supreme Court. Interviews last week with jurors indicate some were pleased with Frye’s decision and others were not. “I didn’t want to have a guilty conscience, even though I thought he deserved death,” said Rugby Watford. “I was glad the judge did what he did.” “I just don’t believe you can (sentence him to death) on one witness,” said Doroth Grissom. “I said maybe he did it. We really didn’t feel he deserved that chair.” “One of the questionsthey asked the jurors was whether we could impose the death sentence, and we all said yes then when it was time to decide, a lot of the jurors said their religious beliefs wouldn’t let them vote for the death penalty,” said Constance Fletcher. “To me, that’s an obstruction of justice. I was really upset. I was so happy when the judge overruled us.” “(Johnson) went in with the intention of getting drugs, not with the intention of shooting (Moulton),” said Pearl Middlecoff. “If Moulton hadn’t shot at him, he would be alive today . . . I put myself in (Johnson’s) position. I probably would have done the same thing. I think the judge was very much out of place.” Frye, who had found five aggravating factors and no mitigating factors, said he has no second thoughts about his decision. “Moulton was out of ammunition and holding up hs hands. Point-blank, 2 or 3 feet away, he fired right through his heart. That was a cold-blooded murder,” he said. In the Supreme Court appeal, four justices concurred with Frye that “death is the appropriate sentence to be imposed for this atrocious and cruel execution murder committed during the commission of an armed robbery by an escaped convict who previously had been convicted of felonies involving the use of threat or violence.” Three justices dissented, saying that “the fusillade of pistol shots initiated by the victim and the apparent conscious act of the appellant to spare the two other occupants of the premises from kidnapping or murder support a reasoned judgment by the jury in favor of a life sentence.” Frye pointed out that in the Cleveland case, he overrode the jury in the opposite direction because the case law prevented him from considering that the body was cut into pieces after death. “I knew it was a risky thing to do in a political sense,” he said, “but I could not sentence that man to death knowing it was against the law . . . The jury (got) all inflamed because it was so gruesome.” The case against Anthony Brown, accused in the first-degree murder of Veteran’s Gas Co. deliveryman James Dasinger, rested largely on the testimony of co-defendant Wyndell Rogers, who pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder in exchange for his testimony. During the first trial, Rogers said Brown set up Dasinger to make a delivery in a sparsely populated area of Cantoment and then killed him with a shotgun blast to the chest. The jury found Brown guilty and recommended a life sentence; but Judge Tarbuck, finding the four aggravating factors, sentenced him to death. On a reversal unrelated to his sentence, the Florida Supreme Court granted Brown a new trial. And at that trial, after Rogers recanted his testimony and said Brown was not even present when Dasinger was killed, a jury found him innocent. “That’s a lesson that a judge should never impose the death penalty on the basis of one person’s testimony,” said Micheal Mello, a Tallahassee attorney who has handled several death override appeals. “It sends shivers up my spine.” Bob Dennis, Brown’s defense attorney at the first trial, agrees. “I don’t think a person should be sentenced to death unless the evidence is absolutely clear, unless there’s a smoking gun,” he said. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Williams, Megan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Escambia Cases Show Examples Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Graybiel, Ginny Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived News Journal Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Description An account of the resource News article describing the death penalty, judicial override, and examples from past cases that had examples of these issues. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Language A language of the resource English Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 3 JPG death penalty Florida Supreme Court Judicial Override