4 20 256 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/d01b365750fcab23e3a668280c499654.jpg fd817be1f4c3e8177b721845ba9a95d1 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/a09f6c513179d736c674ee24ba10a96a.jpg 6ff86516c606883ffa41e529f74c2220 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/225f262223a497a56b927a029bd2edf4.jpg 34ed519b882c4ac9b7fb18459466cb1b https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/6ca735b207aa5c9ee08c0572314dde66.jpg dcc4ea3bfa9febc4af217ae7292a35e4 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 <div style="text-align:center;">“Certainly, I have no sympathy for any individual who made a mistake. We have all made mistakes. But it also is a rule of life we all have to pay for our mistakes.”</div> - Richard Nixon in 1973 One could rightly ask why anyone would bother to write now in favor of amnesty for those who refused to take part in the Vietnam war. The answer is simply that the question has not yet been adequately settled, and this is as good a time as any to put it behind us. Former President Nixon assured the country in 1972 that any discussion on amnesty would be inappropriate until 1) The war was over 2) The POW’s were home 3) an accounting of the MIA’s was underway and 4) the conscription of Americans into the military against their will had ended. All of these conditions have been met for almost five years: all of Vietnam has gone Communist and the Ford Administration is considering recognizing the Hanoi government. He repatriation of the exiles remains the last great problem of the war. The academic community, indeed the world community as a whole, remembers with pride those few “good Germans” who refused to participate in Hitler’s plans for extermination. The only Germans who are today considered respectable are those who defied the government when it went mad, those who deserted their SS units rather than take part in the destruction of Liddice or the leveling of the Warsaw ghetto: it is as difficult to find a Nazi in Germany today as it is to find a hawk in America. But, while those “good Germans” are seen as patriots in the highest meaning of the word, the small army of Americans who chose exile over what history may regard as our country’s Waterloo, are vilified and hounded as cowards and still forced to stay away. We welcome South Vietnamese Army General Trang si Tan, a master torturer; we welcome Saigon Police Chief Dang Van Quang, who gained international noteriority when he summarily executed a bound Viet Cong prisoner during the 1968 Tet offensive; we welcome Ngo Cao Ky, who initiated and supervised the infamous Phoenix Program which carried out the murder of 20,000 South Vietnamese political dissidents. Yet, America’s borders are closed to Terry Samuels and Lindy Blake, whose only crime was to have a conscience when a national conscience was nonexistent. They ask not for mercy – for they have committed no wrong – but rather they ask for justice. Total, absolute, unconditional amnesty should be granted to all of those who refused to fight in America’s biggest mistake. It would not be the first time: George Washington pardoned those who took part in the Whiskey Rebellion. Perhaps more relevant to the issue before is now is Andrew Johnson’s blanket amnesty of all Southern rebels who participated in America’s most costly wart: 600,000 men died in the Civil War. Johnson issued his Universal Amnesty Declaration on Christmas Eve 1868: “I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States…do hereby proclaim and declare unconditionally, and without reservation to all and to every person who directly or indirectly participated in the later insurrection or rebellion, a full pardon and amnesty for the offense of treason against the United States; or for adhering to their enemies during the late civil war, with restoration of all right, privileges and immunities under the Constitution.” Why, if amnesty can be granted for the serious crime of armed rebellion, should it be denied to men who are motivated by opposition to a war that they felt was unjust? There are those who would call the draft dodgers and deserters cowards, but it is never cowardly to stand on moral grounds against the general view. To leave the country of one’s birth, to place oneself in voluntary exile in a strange land with customs and language foreign to him is a difficult and painful situation. They were not cowards, even though the Pentagon tried to make us think that this was the case: “inquiries made by field commanders and research teams reveal that relatively few soldiers claim the Vietnam war as a motivating factor for desertion. The major causes of desertion, true today as they were in previous wars, are personal problems and the inability to adjust to regimented life.” This statement ignores the fact that in each successive year of the Vietnam conflict since 1967, the year of deserters leapt by tens of thousands: in in 1967, roughly 44,000; in 1968, 54,000; in 1969, 70,000; in 1970, 84,000; in 1971, 100,000. Official Pentagon figures place the total number of deserters from August 1964 to December 31, 1972, at 495,689. This figure is almost 300 per cent greater than the desertion figures of WWII and Korea combined. It is not reasonable to assume that the soldiers in Vietnam had so many more “personal problems” than did their counterparts in America’s other recent wars. Vietnam’s deserters are not cowards; the real cowards in this war are those who were involved in atrocities, who knew the grim truths, but remained silent. They are the cowards to their responsibility to humanity. There are those who do feel that to grant amnesty would somehow dishonor those who fought and died in Vietnam. This wrong party: since when is it the responsibility of the exile to offer any explanation to the wounded or the families of the dead? It is the government’s job to do that. The men in the Kennedy, Johnson and the Nixon Administrations who signed the troop increase orders and formulated the war strategy that left our fighting men so exposed to their enemy, must justify their deeds to those who paid the price for them in blood: McNamara, Lodge, Ball, Rusk, Helms. To deny amnesty would not confer any more meaning on the 55,000 American dead: amnesty would, perhaps show that there is still a shred of honor left in our system. It would commit this country to define the lessons of the war: for, until we understand these lessons, there is nothing to prevent the same thing from happening over and over again. Universal amnesty subsumes repatriation with the acceptance of responsibility for the war. Conditional amnesty offers repatriation without guilt, a return to acceptance of business as usual. Further, conditional amnesty assumes that Congress or the President or the V.A. has the moral standing to judge the conscientious decision of Vietnam’s resistors. No public official who served in the executive or legislature during the twelve years of war, has any such moral understanding. Further, to assume that those who fought are against those who didn’t is simply not borne out by the facts: for example, the most vital element in the antiwar movement during the last two years of the war were returning veterans. There was a powerful message in their protest: the special bitterness of the antiwar veteran comes from his realization that he was sent off to risk his like and kill for an illegitimate cause. Also, opponents of amnesty assume that the families of the dead, wounded and captured will be opposed to amnesty. This may or may not be true: we just don’t know. They have not been polled. But it is inappropriate to assume that they would be against amnesty; 1962 Kennedy amnesty hearings revealed some fascinating testimony: Mrs. Valerie Kushner, the wife of a prisoner held in captivity since 1968, pointed out that “POW’s and war exiles (are) both unwilling exiles. We cannot expect to make whole the body of America if we amputate from her flesh so many of her sons.” And Robert Ransom, whose son Mike was killed in Vietnam in 1968, testified “… the untenable position into which we have forced these men is responsible for their predicament today. These are our sons, and we need them back. They did not deserve what we have done to them. It would be most gratifying to me if I felt that I could have contributed in some great measure toward the granting of the broadest kind of amnesty – one without penalties and conditions. I would consider it to be my personal Mike Ransom Memorial General Amnesty Bill. That would have pleased him. It is said that amnesty would undermine the military as an institution by encouraging draft evasion and desertion in the future. But in 1971, one out of every four Americans who enlisted in the armed forces deserted, and it would be difficult to prove that the deserters were motivated by expectation of amnesty. Thus, the concept of patriotic sacrifice was destroyed by Vietnam policies long before there was any talk of amnesty. The cause might be right before men willing risk their lives for it. The U.S. Constitution provides the procedure whereby the country can be taken into a war by its leaders: by this method, the America people – via their representatives – can pass judgment on the validity of the cause and whether or not it is worth sending young men to die fighting for. The viability of the military has always been maintained – and always will continue to be maintained – so long as this Constitutional procedure is followed. The exile phenomenon arose because we were dragged secretly into war; med died under the constitutional joke of the Tonkin Gulf Revolution; men were told to die for a game theory called the domino theory. The real question concerning the draft in the future is: Draft of what? If young men are to be drafted for further Vietnams, then such a draft would be unviable. So long as the war-making procedure is followed, the military will remain sound, whether or not amnesty is granted for the Vietnam exiles. The dodgers and deserters were not evil; they were not cowards; they were ordinary citizens whose consciences could not permit them to take part in a war such as Vietnam. They broke the law, but who has been the supreme law breaker in the era? America did not declare war in Vietnam, but it was responsible for the Nuremburg Tribunal, at which it ratified a host of crimes entitled crimes against humanity – extermination, enslavement, deportation and other atrocities committed against a civilian population. After twelve ears of American involvement in Vietnam, there are over 1,000,000 civilian casualties and 6,000,000 refugees in South Vietnam. One fourth of the entire population of Cambodia was dislocated after three months of our invasion there. Laos has the honor of being the most heavily bombed country in recorded history. And to the American guilt for Hiroshima, Magasaki [Nagasaki] and Dresden, Nixon added the saturation bombing of Hanoi and Harphong on, ironically, the birthday of Jesus Christ [December 25, 1972], the Prince of Peace. Three months later, we withdrew with “peace and honor.” The tactics we employed in Southeast Asia – free-fire zones, massive bombing of highly-populated cities, system extermination of dissidents, the “Strategic body count – are crimes and violations of international law whether the U.S. does them or Nazi Germany does them, and we cannot lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we ourselves will no abide by. So let us not hear any longer this selective application for the respect of the law invoked for the exile, but not for his government. If the exiles were right and Vietnam, was wrong, then our leaders should recognize it, admit it and, of course grant amnesty. But if the dodgers were wrong and the war was right, they have suffered enough: exile in itself is a self-imposed alternative to service. For the government to add still more penalty is a cruel act of cowardice on the part of that government, an act contemptuous of the past, and proof enough that we have progressed very little since the Senate passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution by a vote of 98 to 2. In that event, our 55,000 dead have surely died in vain. I ask everyone to open your hearts to the words of Ecclesiastes: “To everything there is a season and time to every purpose under the heaven…a time for killing, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up.” We have had our time of killing, now. The leaders of the United States found it necessary to destroy much of Vietnam in an effort to break the spirit of Ho Chi Minh and other Communists in Southeast Asia. ThJ5 spirit remained unbroken despite B-52 saturation bombing, napolm-raids, free-fire zones and body counts, remained unbroken and prebailad, but the American spirit was left in shambles. In our narrow-minded attempt to interfere in a civil war, we inadvertently caused a civil war of our own. This civil war will never be over until the people of the United States decide to heal the wounds allowing everyone to come home. Only when all of the victims of the war are allowed to make the trip home will we have any semblance of a peace with honor. “The Southerners are our brethren. They are part of ourselves. They are bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. We have come together and now, after having understood what the feud was, the great apple of discord removed, having lived under the Constitution of United States, they (the Southern rebels) have asked to live under it in the future.” – Andrew Johnson in 1866 “I had to obey the rules of war and my flag.” – Adolf Eichmann “My conscience is clear. I was simply doing my duty.” – Franz Stangel, Commandant of Treblinka 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. Buyze, Gwendolynn Vol. No./Issue No. Volume and issue number for the newspaper (if available) Vol. 48, Issue 22 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 Crossfire Subject The topic of the resource Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Description An account of the resource In this article Michael Mello writes about giving amnesty to the people who refused to participate in the Vietnam War. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Mello, Michael A. "Crossfire." Mary Washington College Bullet, April 19, 1976, Michael A. Mello Papers, 1957 - 2008, Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington. 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 1976-04-19 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 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 Amnesty draft dodgers Mary Washington College Michael A. 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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 [title]Current Events [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] [Page 2] [title]Current Events [subtitle] Orlando's hometown newspaper thinks a killer might get off because The Miami Herald crusaded on his behalf. Whose truth is right? 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. 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.  Who was right? 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] [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. 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. 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? 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. 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. 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 Lori Rozsa of the Herald says she took the assignment to check up on the Spaziano case. because it was her turn. 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. "I totally expected him to say I stand by my story; leave me alone," Rozsa says. 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?" 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. Suddenly all hell broke loose. 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] [page start] single, locally reported place on what should have been, for them, a local story. 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. The newspapers even sniped at one another's reporters. 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. 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. 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. 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." And so they did. 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. "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." 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] [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. Then again, the Herald never claimed he was. "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." 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." 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. "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?" 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  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. 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. 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. 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." 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. And as for the notion that DILisio still fears the Outlaws, "why did he have a listed phone [page end] [page start] from Mello, the attorney. 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."   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. 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." 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.) "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." 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. 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. The court ruling gave the Herald its first victory. "The judge said he believed DILisio now," says Haile. "Reasonable people can disagree." 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." 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. 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?" 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?" 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. 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? 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. 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. [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/fb2205e480948187dcb3f09eb993d2cf.jpg 83fe8fb838baec6b2f1ff804b2c79299 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/24ca71748c08ca8e36f61ab28d4d42f9.jpg e738201347503293f0160a2ea3366b72 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 Attorney General Bob Butterworth says the plan to eliminate some of Death Row inmates’ state appeals may not speed up the process. TALLAHASSEE – While agreeing with Gov. Bob Martinez’s view that appeals for Death Row inmates take too long, Attorney General Bob Butterworth expressed some skepticism Monday that Martinez’s plan to eliminate some state appeals would solve the problem. “We’re all in favor of speeding up the system,” Butterworth said. “But like I said, we’re reserving judgment (on the proposal). It could just back up one court, so it might not speed anything up. It could be a Catch-22 situation.” Martinez, a vocal critic of lengthy death-penalty litigation, last week proposed eliminating one series of appeals for condemned inmates, who average spending more than 9 1/2 years on Death row. Currently, inmates can appeal collateral issues through state circuit courts all the way to the Florida Supreme Court. Collateral appeals focus on such issues as the competency of an inmate to stand trial and whether the prosecution withheld any evidence from the defense. Those issues can also be argued through the federal court system. Saying there is too much duplication, Martinez wants to eliminate collateral appeals in state circuit courts, giving only the Florida Supreme Court a chance to hear such challenges before they enter the federal system. But Butterworth, whose office represents the state on death-penalty cases, said the problem with long appeals doesn’t really lie with the state. “The real issue is at the federal level,” Butterworth said. The state already has a two-year time limit in which a condemned inmate must raise all collateral (constitutional) challenges. There is no such time limit for the federal court system. Butterworth said he hoped Martinez succeeds in generating enough support for his plan, but he wasn’t optimistic that legislators would agree to completely eliminate one phase of the appeals process. In a separate move, U.S. Sen. Bob Graham has introduced a bill in Washington that would place a two-year time limit for collateral appeals in the federal courts, a move Butterworth says he supports. Graham has tried unsuccessfully in previous years to get that bill passed. Deputy Attorney General James York said he is frustrated more by federal courts that overturn or delay death sentences than state courts that review the legal challenges. While saying he appreciated the governor’s frustration with the current system, York said the proposal to eliminate some state appeals might result in the federal system “doing even more review” of death penalty cases. Defense attorneys for condemned inmates have lambasted all proposals to shorten the appeal. Several attorneys have said the maze of state and federal court hearings helps to prevent mistakes from being made before the state puts someone to death. Cutting out parts of that system may backfire for death penalty advocates, according to Michael Mello, a lawyer who once represented condemned inmates in Florida and is now a professor at the Vermont Law School. “Nothing’s going to get rid of executions faster than a string of executing innocent people,” Mello Said. But Peter Dunbar, general counsel for Martinez, said the issue is not having sufficient appeals, but having a duplication of appeals. Dunbar said the governor agreed with Butterworth that the reform is needed at the federal level, but Martinez can only address the state system. “How many times do you have to hear the same issues-until someone says, “We’ve heard it once, twice, three times, you’re out,” Dunbar said. “You don’t need to be duplicating your efforts.” 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. Rigmaiden, Erin 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 Cutting appeals 'could be Catch-22' Subject The topic of the resource Death row inmates Description An account of the resource Pan to eliminate state appeals for death row inmates may not speed up the legal process. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Loughlin, Sean Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Gainesville Sun 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 1987-03-07 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 appeals Death Row Florida Florida Death Row Supreme Court https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/89a9c7c696998f6cd1196f9b7b9916f8.jpg 4113f0bf7b29f05c26dac64caf850f42 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. Kniskern, Kyle Text Any textual data included in the document [written in cursive, with pen, above the article] Mike – Thought you would like to have these two articles. [Above the title] Colman McCarthy [Title] Dead Men Talking So, after Hollywood and Susan Sarandon, the bestseller list, gigs on “Oprah” and “PrimeTime Live,” honorary degrees and more than 25 speaking invitations a week, how is Sister Helen Prejean handling celebrity? Much the way she lived with obscurity: keeping the faith and sharing her energy, with no holding back on either. The 57-year-old Louisiana nun who entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille at 18 left the anonymous life in 1993 when Random House published her book “Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States.” Shortly after, Susan Sarandon read it and went to talk with Prejean in New Orleans. The actress brought the book to Tim Robbins. In March, the film he directed – also titled “Dead Man Walking” – won an Oscar for Sarandon and her portrayal of Sister Helen. An estimated 8 million people have seen the film, which means they know a bit more about the ritual of state-sanctioned killing. “This movie shows the process of execution,” Prejean says. “Beyond the rhetoric of all the legislations who score their political points for being tough on crime, what it all boils down to is that a handful of people are hired to kill a guy in the middle of the night.” Among the Speaking invitations Prejean most softens to are those from legal aid groups representing death row prisoners. Most have recently disbanded, following the elimination of federal funding by Congress. One of the few survivors is the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center. Prejean helped it by being the main speaker on May 26 at a fund-raising even at a Jesuit high school in Washington. Short-haired, understatedly dressed in a blue suit and blouse, Prejean is a natural storyteller with a talent for wryness and little taste for polemics. The factual arguments for ending the death penalty – it doesn’t deter, racial bias, excessive costs – are offered like notes in the margin. The main text is stories of people she has met since first going into death row in 1984 at the Louisiana state prison in Angola. Some stories are about men whose executions she witnessed and whom she counseled to ask forgiveness for their crimes. Some are about victims’ families, people Prejean – admitting past cowardice – was once afraid of meeting and chose to avoid. Then she went to a victims’ support group and heard families describe how people like her avoided them. Prejean praises prison officials who quit their jobs rather than cooperate with the process of executions. Of politicians who boast of their zeal for the death penalty, she asks: Where are they when the prisoners are killed? Why don’t they come in the darkness of midnight to throw the switch or do the injecting themselves rather than be asleep in their beds? “Witnessing an execution,” Prejean says of the first man she saw die in the electric chair, “Left an indelible mark on my soul.” It was, she says, a rebaptism. Compared with some longtime opponents of the death penalty – Marie Deans, Michael Mello, Stephen Bright, William Brennan, Joseph Ingle, Alvin Bronstein – Prejean is a newcomer. Her awakening came in the early 1980s when nuns were being killed in Latin America and ones at home were out of their convents and habits, acting on the church’s social teachings on solidarity with the poor and exposing the structural causes of poverty. Prejean moved into the St. Thomas housing project in New Orleans. “It was a shock,” she told the Progressive magazine recently. “Growing up in the ‘40s and ‘50s, I had known black people only as my family’s servants. Now it was my turn to serve them. It didn’t take long to see that for poor people, especially black poor people, there was a greased track to prison and death row.” From the housing project in New Orleans, Prejean began visiting another one – the Angola prison – to be a spiritual adviser to men awaiting their deaths. That ministry continues, plus a new one with its own set of difficulties. She describes it as trying to inform “white, affluent people in the suburbs. The more affluent you are, the more separated and the more afraid you are of the poor and ‘the criminal element,’ the more you take the hard line and say, ‘Those people need to be executed.’ They’re the toughest audience.” It is fitting that the work would be the hardest for Prejean. In the film, the father of a murder victim says to the nun, “I don’t have your faith.” She answers: “It’s not faith, it’s work.” 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 Dead Men Talking Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McCarthy, Colman 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 1996-06-04 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 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 New Orleans, LA Subject The topic of the resource Corporal punishment Corporal punishment of children--Religious aspects--Catholic Church Description An account of the resource The passionate outreach against the death penalty by Sister Helen Prejean. As a Catholic nun she details her views and advocacy for those on death row. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Colman McCarthy, "Dead Men Talking," June 4, 1996. Corporal Punishment 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/33ac3845dffbdd566ca8f08d02a32fc9.jpg 6bd97e668bae387ca3092b91edf449c8 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 Thursday, July 31, 1997 Valley News Dean’s Court Comments Draw Fire Associated Press MONTPELIER (AP) – Gov Howard Dean’s continuing criticism of judges is off the mark and reflects a lack of understanding about the court system, say several lawyers and constitutional experts. “Dean is just ignorant. I don’t think he understands what judges ought to do,” says Micheal Mello, a Vermont Law School professor who teaches advanced courses in constitutional law. “He perceives the Supreme Court as being broken in some way and sees himself on a mission to fix it.” “That is pure, ignorant, political demagoguery,” he said.  Dean, who has now made two appointments to the five member Supreme Court, has said the direction of the court needs to be “changed dramatically.”  “I’m looking to steer the court back towards consideration of the rights of the victims,” Dean said three weeks ago in a radio interview with Bob Kinzel of the Vermont News Service. “I’m looking to make it easier to convict guilty people and not have as many technicalities interfere with justice.” Asked if that reflected a “get-tough-on-crime” approach, Dean responded: “My beef about the judicial system is that it does not emphasize truth and justice over lawyering. It emphasizes legal technicalities and rights of the defendants and all that.” Such comments may play well with the general public ,but they have sent a chill through the collective spine of lawyers – particularly defense lawyers – around the state.  Throughout his six year tenure, Dean's public chiding of the judiciary has led many lawyers to question the doctor- governor's grasp of constitutional law. In their eyes, Dean views the protections contained in the Bill of Rights as mere “technicalities.” As Mello sees it, the rights that Dean sees as “technicalities” are there to preserve the rights of all citizens, including citizens accused of crimes, to be free from government intrusion. “These are not technicalities. In my view, any lawyer who said that would be speaking irresponsibly,” said Mello. “I am not a doctor, and I would not take it upon myself to tell Howard Dean how to practice medicine.” “I don't think he has any regard for any process that gets in the way of what he wants to accomplish,” said Leighton Detora, a Barre, Vt.,  lawyer who said he was once a supporter of the governor, but is no longer. “He’s a doctor, and as such, he has all the learned responses to the legal profession – that we are just out here and lawyer’s jobs are to make things more complicated. “In his own arrogance, I think somehow he thinks he has a lock on truth and wisdom,” said Detora, who is president-elect of the Vermont Trial Lawyers Association. He stressed that he was speaking only on his own behalf. Defender General Robert Appel says he does not share the governor's view that the Supreme Court has gone too far in weighing a defendant's rights. “I would say it is a fundamental difference in perspective between me and my boss,” said Appel. “I don’t think our Supreme Court or, any appellate court, lightly reverses a criminal conviction.” 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. Henle, Justin 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's Court Comments Draw Fire Description An account of the resource Reporting on the critical comments of Vermont governor Howard Dean towards the state Supreme Court and judicial system pertaining to defendants rights. Critics from law backgrounds comment on the governors stances and comments. 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 1997-07-31 Language A language of the resource English Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Associated Press Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Associated Press. “Dean’s Court Comments Draw Fire.” Valley News. Montpelier, July 31, 1997. Subject The topic of the resource Vermont--Supreme Court Vermont--Politics and government. 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 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, Vermont. https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/4e50c47cd450cfe9b6c8a717a31f5f75.jpg fb76ade2f12ab3436e15f80806a0aaf7 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 Text Any textual data included in the document Dear Editor: Bullet we got to hand it to you... Thanks for the royal screw. Where do students voice their opinions anymore? We want to commend you for your sensationalism and your success in twisting the facts to fit your fancy. We're glad you've won your awards for journalism- Now, how about working on the reporting that gives you such inappropriate headlines and unfactual articles. We hope you feel a little bit of guilt somewhere in your paper heart concerning the way you've misrepresented the facts, the students, and the administration lately. We thought you'd learn your lesson the first week you misrepresented a story with an outlandish headline that ruined a perfectly good story, but you evidently enjoy "misrepresentation of the truth." (Student Handbook). Let us correct some of your statements since you insist on relying on your own ideas when writing your articles, rather than involving adequate student input ( the people your writing for remember). Do we have a representative sample of students on our Bullet staff? We at Madison are growing "weary of our lonely struggle and are beginning to show signs of buckling in the face" of the distorted coverage you've been granting us. Schlimgen and Thompson did not try and "persuade other dormatories to follow the Madison Plan." First of all, there is no "Madison" plan- only one for all the students of MWC. There is no mention of Madison in the entire proposal that you printed up in your last edition. Secondly, we suppose your concept of "persuading" other dorms to follow our example is equal to several of our dorm members visiting several other dorms on campus to explain the proposal and make students aware of its implications. We were willing to sacrifice our visitation in order to get our point across and we didn't want to see any other dorm suffer for the same reasons. We made it clear to the administration for the beginning that we wanted to open the problem up to consideration and not hide it away in the corner somewhere. The residents of Madison did not "falter in their support of the new proposal"- they simply feel that passive resistance and the proper channels are the correct, mature and responsible method of dealing with problems of this nature involving a combination of administrative and student legislatures. Kathy Mayer neither took away or gave back our visitation, Cindy Reeves did both. Miss Mayer was consulted on the matter as any leader is consulted before one of his or her cabinets takes any action. Your "most valuable staffer" also made a blunder in his editorial where he states that Woodard "decides upon the proposal" because Woodard's vote is only one of eight from the administrative board. Agreed, your article is one of opinion and not of facts since it is classified as an editorial, but opinions also need facts to back them up. We also don't think we're talking about "power" in our protests, Mr. Vandever, only cooperation (in our minds) will solve anything in an educative atmosphere. Keep it up Bullet, you're helping to perpetuate the idea that college students are in fact inferior, incompetent, power-hungry immature little kids. Steven P. Schlimgen, Randal V. Kirby, Paul Hawke & and the Madison 34+1 Editor's Note: If Madison's attempt was not to seize power, and thus influence an administrative decision, the entire episode must be classified as a pointless prank. If Madison residents feel that "proper channels" are appropriate, why weren't these channels explored and exhausted before the existing procedures were so dramatically scorned? Anyone who claims that President Woodard is bound by a vote of the administrative board certainly is not aware of the "facts," and would do well to read the description of the President's powers in Mike Mello's article, "The function of the BOV" (Bullet, April 1, 1978). Further, Madison did indeed "grow weary of its lonely struggle." The dorm residents originally voted 36-1 to sign in "guest #1, guest #2, etc.," but as their visitation rights became threatened, the vote to continue the struggle dropped to only a 14-11 margin. Twenty-two supporters "buckled" under pressure. Also Kathy Mayer took full responsibility for both revoking and restoring Madison's visitation. It would seem that the only "misrepresentation" of which The Bullet is guilty, is one of not presenting the protesters in the favorable light they desire. T.J.V. AND G.P.W. 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 Dear Editor Subject The topic of the resource Student protesters Description An account of the resource A letter to the editor of the Bullet from several leaders of a student protest, criticizing Mike Mello's reporting of their student protest. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Schlimgen, Steven P. Kirby, Randal V. Hawke, Paul 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 1978-04-18 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 Bullet 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 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 dpi Letter to the Editor Michael A. Mello student activism student discipline The Bullet https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/e9021f88e5ec813d91c14567cfe96004.jpg 3028072efa66d57d5560ecacf1a7dd31 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 [Title] Death not easy punishment for murder [Author] Michael Mello [Newspaper opinion section title] It’s My Turn Eight winters ago, a man I loved as a father was murdered. A few days before Christmas 1989, a racist coward with a grudge mailed a shoebox-sized bomb to federal appellate Judge Robert S. Vance. The bomb, which detonated in the kitchen of Judge Vance’s home on the outskirts of Birmingham, killed him instantly and almost killed his wife, Helen. I mention this story because it is an awkward time to oppose capital punishment in New England. The unfathomable lust murder of Jeffrey Curley in Cambridge, Mass., and the senseless slaughter of New Hampshire state trooper Jeremy Charron cry out for swift and severe punishment. This is as it should be; especially heinous crimes deserve an especially severe response by criminal law. Reasonable minds can conclude — as 38 American states have concluded — that capital punishment should exist as an option. Gov. Howard Dean — our homegrown Doctor Death — recently had an epiphany about capital punishment: He now supports it. He also seems to have decided to seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2000. With the razor thin 81-79 vote in the Massachusetts House last week, following only 12 hours of debate, it seems that restoration of capital punishment in Massachusetts is all but inevitable. But before Massachusetts decides irrevocably to become America’s 39th capital punishment state, and Vermont to become the 40th, its leaders ought to pause to study and consider the experiences of its predecessor states. Those experiences have not been happy ones. New York, for instance, has had the death penalty for two years — without a single capital trial but with a multimillion dollar capital defense office. Or take California, which has had capital punishment for more than 20 years and now has the nation’s largest death row — more than 400, but only two executions; when, in 1986, the California electorate decided that the state Supreme Court was too soft on capital punishment, the people tossed three justices out of office — and yet, still, only two California executions have occurred in the intervening years. Or Texas, where death rides an assembly line. Or consider Florida, the state that has, perhaps more than any other, strived — and paid with millions and millions of tax dollars — to make capital punishment fair as well as swift, and the state where I worked full time as capital appellate public defender in 1983-1987. Today, all executions in Florida are on hold following the fiery botched electrocution of Pedro Medina earlier this year. Why, you might ask, does not Florida simply replace its three-legged, solid oak electric chair — built in 1923 by prison inmates — with lethal injection? It’s not that simple. Lethal injections can, and frequently are, botched. This is so because the Hippocratic Oath precludes doctors and other highly trained medical personnel from participating in executions; and this means Florida’s medical lobby opposes lethal injection as a method of execution. In fact, no mechanism of execution is close to foolproof because it just isn’t easy to devise a way of killing an otherwise healthy human being that is quick, painless and not horrible for the state-selected witnesses to watch. It turns out that Florida has no easy or simple answer to its problem about how to carry out executions. This illustrates an essential fact about capital punishment: Nothing about it is as easy or simple as it first appears. Not even the choice of execution method. And that choice is only the beginning. These questions, and scores like them, are the real death penalty. The 38 states with capital punishment know this. Enacting a capital punishment statute is the easy part. The hard part is making capital punishment as a legal system work. That is hard and complicated and frustrating and very, very, very expensive. I oppose capital punishment as it exists — and as it will continue to exist for the foreseeable future, regardless of what the politicians tell you — as a legal system in America today. America’s modern experience with capital punishment has taught that it is a rigged lottery, skewed by matters of politics, class, race, geography and, most important, the quality of the defense lawyer at trial. The death penalty is not reserved for the worst murderers with the worst layers at trial. And innocent people will — inevitably — be sentenced to death and executed. It’s as inevitable as the law of averages and the fallibility of an infinite punishment administered by finite human beings and institutions. Judge Robert Vance loathed the death penalty as racist and pointless and degrading and deforming of the law he cherished. But, as a federal appellate judge, he often was constrained to uphold death sentences; when I was his law clerk, the judge and I argued, sometimes bitterly, about death cases. He always won these arguments; he was, after all, the judge. His assassin now lives on Alabama’s death row and, when he is executed, a small part of me will cheer, God forgive me. But another part of me, where Judge Vance still lives, will die again. Nothing about the real capital punishment is easy. 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. Felipe, Teresa 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 Death Not Easy Punishment for Murder Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Description An account of the resource After the murder of federal appellate Judge Robert S. Vance, Mello discusses the opinions on the death penalty held in states such as Florida, California, New York, and Texas. Mello further examines the complications of the death penalty including the question of its legality, the difficulty of carrying out the sentences, as well as the huge expense these penalties cause. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Mello, Michael. "Death Not Easy Punishment for Murder." Burlington (VT) The Burlington Free Press, November 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 1997-11-23 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 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 Burlington, VT capital punishment death penalty Michael Mello https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/99ff48b52b0718c2ffc55cc2d595bbae.jpg d83ae450271b7918294befd23a7d85af https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/5f08db3e6bab0ba288f5243d4a3b2a9c.jpg 2baee2b0d83068e7d877c31d0b1c7e32 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/c7d19c1fd9bafe6ba1596f396b4ddfb4.jpg 3aad7d84dd3fc215a4216f7fc3118ca7 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] Death Penalty Not one, but two irreconcilable differences of opinion concern the death penalty in America. The first is the question of whether the death penalty is morally permissible. In the twentieth century more delicate consciences have arisen which judge the death penalty immoral, despite the universal practice of mankind in prior centuries, and general agreement among older moralists. Still many thinkers find the death penalty morally acceptable for heinous crimes by dangerous thugs; and the American people are overwhelmingly in favor of capital punishment. I may remark parenthetically that, apart from the intellectual classes, such opposition to the existing death penalty seems to be motivated by the ugliness of all present methods of execution. It would be interesting to note the effect on public opinion if any state should begin to execute by use of an oxygen-free nitrogen chamber. Since nitrogen is a major component of air the victim notices no unpleasing odor, and, since the victim continues to exhale normally, the carbon dioxide does not build up in the blood so that no need for breath is felt prior to loss of consciousness. Such an approach would seem to mitigate some of the negative reaction to execution methods expressed in the propaganda of death penalty opponents. The second difference of opinion, although puzzling to some, concerns how the Constitution can be interpreted to absolutely forbid the death penalty when it specifically refers to “capital cases” and the “jeopardy of life or limb.” It would seem to some that theoreticians capable of such a jump could also find ways to justify quartering soldiers in private homes. Among the absolute opponents of the death penalty on both moral and constitutional grounds were two former supreme court justices, Brennan and Marshall. In the face of solid court majorities supporting the constitutionality of capital punishment, these two persisted for years dissenting in every capital case that reached the court, even filing dissents to the denial of certiorari. [End of page] As did the subjects of this book, also the author, Professor Mello (who has been counsel in more than fifty death penalty cases) wholeheartedly opposes the death penalty on both moral and Constitutional grounds. He makes no attempt at an extensive explication of the opposing arguments to either of these questions. Nor does he attempt to provide a detailed history of death penalty cases since Furman v. Georgia. His book is a salute to justices Brennan and Marshall; and with them it rejects the case law for an absolutist approach. To the extent that the author confronts public support for executions he suggests, like Justice Marshall, that the moral position would triumph if the public were better informed. He also repeatedly brings up the popular assumption that the death penalty is applied in a racially discriminatory manner. This popular belief cannot be maintained when variables other than race are added to simplistic studies. (See “Execution by Quote?” in THE PUBLIC INTEREST, no. 116, Summer 1994 p.3). There is no hint given that this conclusion may be questionable. Professor Mello’s interesting and varies study discusses the lives of justices Brennan and Marshall, the origins and history of dissenting opinions in the United States Supreme Court, the justification of the persistent unavailing dissents under varied theories of jurisprudence and finally the treatment of death penalty cases in the Supreme Court and the dissenters themselves. In each of these segments, except perhaps the last, the author demonstrates an admirable gift for concise and clear summarization. For a reader who has not read a full length biography of either, the brief and excellent biographical essays on justices Brennan and Marshall provide interesting anecdotes about their appointments. It is well-known that Eisenhower described Brennan as his worst mistake. Mello [End of column] explains how that mistake occurred when both the President and his Attorney General, Brownell, assumed that Brennan was ideologically in tune with Arthur Vanderbilt, Chief Justice of New Jersey. In fact, while Brennan and Vanderbilt shared an interest in court reform, on political questions they were far apart. Marshall’s appointment to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is even more interesting since it involved a deal whereby Mississippi’s Senator Eastland agreed to advance Kennedy’s appointment of Marshall in return for an appointment to the Fifth Circuit of Herold Cox, and outspoken racist and a great embarrassment to the federal judiciary. Following the biographies, Mello provides an account of the practice instituted by John Marshall of promulgating an opinion of the Court, rather than having the Justices give their opinions seriatim. The official opinion created the need for dissents. Brief, useful histories of the most prominent dissenters stop with Harlan on the Warren Court. Mello’s brief biographical essays and histories serve as background study in his summary of jurisprudential theories, before he settles down to a rather dry analysis of the actual dissents by Brennan and Marshall. This section makes the interesting point that the seemingly pointless dissents to denial of certiorari were often effective messages to the lawyers below as to what points might be raised successfully in the future. The author’s political position is always in evidence, and leads to some overstatement. Marshall is said to have resigned from a court whose “decisions invariably would increase the misery of Blacks, the poor, and the uneducated.” Lewis Powell is off-handedly described as a [End of page] “cynical hack”; and Clarence Thomas is attacked at greater length for no reason germane to the book. In law professor fashion the text (210 pages) is supported by voluminous footnotes (110) pages. There is a combined index and table of cases. The book is suitable for all academic collections acquiring a broad range of materials on legal history, the Supreme Court or the death penalty. It is not intended to be useful in practice. [End of article] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Underwood, Drew 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 Death Penalty Description An account of the resource A review of Michael Mello's book: Against the Death Penalty. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lynch, Michael J. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 3 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Michael Mello Supreme Court https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/40ce3eb3256067ebb65da440b045937c.jpg bf91999fa1882a1cc0775a0cda672cc1 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/8d8fb0b1318b875d83da8c4d53037581.jpg fc7092ff771acc03f5901b2e734b39dd https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/151f4fa524f65b298f23afd480d2d395.jpg 8d61e1ab0218d27b37bd6da14bd92e85 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/8ffa7f2a90dec68d76660720cd3936c5.jpg 8305637d6c9c03a44965dfd8e948be11 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 September 28, 1997 Sunday Valley News Death Penalty Foes Have Been Dormant By SARAH STROHMEYER Valley News Staff Writer LEBANON — For decades, foes of capital punishment have rested comfortably in New Hampshire knowing that the state’s last execution took place 58 years ago and that the likelihood of another one in their lifetimes seemed distant. But the alarm went off last month when Gordon Perry, 22, allegedly discharged his .38 caliber Taurus into the side of Epson Officer Jeremy Charron as he checked Perry’s car early on Aug. 24. Charron, who had just returned from serving as a pallbearer at the funeral of a New Hampshire trooper killed in a gun battle in the North Country, died on the way to the hospital. There have been other murders recently that might have met the narrow criteria for capital punishment in the Granite State, but for one reason or another the attorney general has not sought that penalty. That is not the situation with Perry’s case, which has been described by legal experts as solidly within the parameters of a capital crime. This time, the New Hampshire Attorney General has pledged to seek Perry’s execution. And now, death penalty foes are rushing to organize a movement to prevent that and other future executions — even though they already may be too late. “Basically it will take us a long time to gear up an organized effort,” said Arnold Alpert, New Hampshire Program Coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee. “In states like Texas and Florida, where executions have been taking place, (opponents) are organized about it. Or in states like Pennsylvania, where there is no death penalty, they have an active movement. But we’re in sort of this intermediate place.” One of the state’s more vocal opponents of capital punishment is Mark Larsen, a Lebanon lawyer, an unsuccessful candidate for Grafton County Attorney, and perhaps a future leader of the state’s anti-death penalty movement. Larsen said he decided to speak up months ago, following Gov. Jeanne Shaheen’s announcement during her campaign last fall that she intended to expand the death penalty statute to apply to those who murder during the commission of other specific felonies, especially when children are the victims. As a start, Larsen sent the governor a book on the death penalty written by former California governor E.G. “Pat" Brown. Last spring, Shaheen renewed her campaign pledge when a bill was introduced to the state legislature advocating the death penalty for people who murder children or crime witnesses. Now that Perry has been charged with a capital crime, the issue has taken on even greater intensity, Larsen said. “Certainly, with the Charron killing, this has got to ring into focus the question of the death penalty,” said Larsen. “I certainly intend to join with like-minded people to, number one, try to convince the governor that she doesn’t want to go down that path. My plan is to join with others. See Death — Page A6 [Bold Enlarged Quotation] “I certainly intend to join with like-minded people to … try to convince the governor that she doesn’t want to go down that path.” Mark Larsen Lawyer Continued from page A1 This is not the way we want to go, morally or ethically.” He and other observers have noted a striking convergence of factors over several years that contribute to the sense of urgency. They include changes in New Hampshire law that bring the state’s capital punishment statute in line with U.S. Supreme Court rulings, thereby making it tough to challenge in court; and a switch from hanging to lethal injection as the preferred method of execution, with the intent of making executions more politically palatable. Those changes took place after the state reinstituted capital punishment in 1977. And they seem to have caught death penalty opponents off guard. “In New Hampshire, the movement to reinstate capital punishment has been very methodical and without … public discussion,” said David Lamarre-Vincent, executive secretary of the New Hampshire Council of Churches. “I recall House and Senate hearings on incremental steps, and there was little press coverage and public interest.” The Rev. John McHugh, director of Aquinas House at the Catholic Student Center at Dartmouth College, testified in legislative hearings about the death penalty when it was reinstated in the ’77. He said he still is opposed to it, as is the Catholic Church, but does not have immediate plans to speak against it again. “I wasn’t aware that there was an imminent need,” he said. McHugh’s perception is not uncommon. Sarah Putnam is a Quaker, secretary of the local Society of Friends and an opponent of the death penalty. More recently, though, she had been immersed in other causes, such as protesting the launching of a satellite that will carry nuclear material into outer space. “As soon as the governor came into office, we wrote her a letter of support stating again our stand against capital punishment,” said Putnam, referring to her local Society of Friends. “But that was it. We haven’t been real active on this issue recently. … I wasn’t aware that there was even this momentum” about the death penalty. Lamarre-Vincent said a sense of urgency has been missing over the past decade or more in part because it has looked like New Hampshire’s narrowly defined capital punishment statute might never be imposed. He said he knows there is support for his organization’s anti-death-penalty stance because the council of churches got a heavy response to a pamphlet on the death penalty published just about the time of the Charron Shooting. “It’s a coincidence,” Lamarre-Vincent said. His group had begun work on the publication two years ago after it noticed a “gradual move toward an acceptance of the death penalty” in New Hampshire. Now the council or churches is trying to assemble a task force of theologians, lawyers and business people who are opposed to the death penalty; Lamarre-Vincent said he is searching for people willing to speak out. He said Larsen is one of the few he’s found so far who does not mind sticking his neck out. “What we want to do is create a forum for a renewed public discussion of this issue,” he said. “We want to begin to put together, hopefully, a task force. … I have been trying to find people willing to speak out on the issue. I just haven’t seen a lot of other people speaking out publicly.” New Hampshire has never been a hang-’em-high state. For the first 100 years of its settlement, no execution took place even though neighbors in Massachusetts seemed to be crazy for the public entertainment, at times hanging up to 16 people in one day. Sarah Simpson and Penelope Kenney, teenage girls, were hauled through the streets of Portsmouth on Dec. 27, 1739, and hanged in such a way that they died by slow strangulation. They had been convicted of drowning a child whose body was never found. The last execution took place on July 14, 1939, in the state prison in Concord. Howard Long was hanged for “a sexual slaying” in Laconia, according to a state librarian. In between, there was the 1796 hanging of Thomas Powers (some records use the name Palmer) in Haverhill for a murder committed in Lebanon. Since 1939, three people have spent time on death row. One man was sentenced to death in June 1949, but he committed suicide the following year. The other two were Rhode Island men who had killed a manufacturer in Nashua, but they were never hanged because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972. That Supreme Court ruling, in Furman vs. Georgia, also left a door open for the reinstatement of capital punishment by each state. Many states then rewrote their statues to address the high court’s concerns that the death penalty was too often targeting minorities and the indigent. Today 39 states have death penalty statutes. Debate about capital punishment in New Hampshire resumed in 1985, when then Attorney General Steven Merrill proposed changing the method of execution from hanging to lethal injection. At the time, Mississippi was the only other state that hanged its prisoners. Two years later, Gov. John Sununu signed the lethal injection bill into law. In 1990, the law was tinkered with again, and it is that revised version that is on the books now. To impose the death penalty, the state must have a case that falls into one of five specific categories: the killing of an on-duty law enforcement officer, the killing of someone during a kidnapping; the hiring of another person to kill, killing after being sentenced to life in prison without parole, and killing while committing or attempting to commit aggravated felonious sexual assault. That New Hampshire has not expanded its capital punishment statute to include “felony murders” — murders committed during other felony crimes — makes it a tougher law to challenge on a constitutional basis, according to Vermont Law School professor Mike Mello, a nationally recognized expert on the death penalty — and an opponent of it. “The states that have crafted narrow death penalty statutes have survived” constitutional challenges, he said, noting that New Hampshire modeled its statute after laws adopted in other states that had already passed “constitutional muster.” In New Hampshire, a jury must find unanimously, after a special sentencing hearing, that the murderer purposely killed the victim or victims, or purposely engaged in behavior that resulted in death. If the jury does that, then it must find that eight aggravating factors outweigh 10 mitigating factors in order to impose the death penalty. That vote must be unanimous, too. In the case of Perry, who already had a serious criminal record when Charron was killed, the key aggravating factor might be that he was trying to avoid or prevent a lawful arrest. And that is what may make the Perry case an urgent one for death penalty foes. “We’re following this case pretty closely in my capital punishment seminar,” said Mello. “Absolutely, this is the case I have been dreading would come along in New Hampshire.” Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Vol. No./Issue No. Volume and issue number for the newspaper (if available) Vol. 46, issue 112 Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Curran, Ruth 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 Death Penalty Foes Have Been Dormant Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Strohmeyer, Sarah. “Death Penalty Foes Have Been Dormant.” Sunday Valley News, September 28, 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 1997-08-28 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 Lebanon, NH Description An account of the resource The case of Gordon Perry is examined. It is considered by Michael Mello to be a case highly important to those opposing the death penalty in New Hampshire. https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/3be1d52e3e91ccb0bcc02b2df92666ec.jpg a1f3d6f00c2c3d191b5f7c407dcb3f83 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 Death Row Inmate Wants To Study Law Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Barlow, Rich Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Valley News Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 jpg Language A language of the resource English Description An account of the resource Convicted killer Joe Giarratano hopes to elude Virginia's electric chair and study law in Vermont. Subject The topic of the resource Death row, Vermont Law School Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University of Mary Washington Libraries Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Saturday, November 25, 1989 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource University of Mary Washington Libraries Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Vermont Law School 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 Law School 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 SOUTH ROYALTON- Convicted killer Joe Giarratano hopes to elude Virginia’s electric chair and study law in Vermont. That’s fine with Vermont Law School Assistant Professor Michael Mellow. Mello and others (pro-death-penalty columnist Jack Kilpatrick among them) doubt that Giarratano stabbed to death his two lovers- a mother and daughter- in 1979. Mello has invited Giarratano, a one-time suicidal drug addict who reformed himself into an accomplished amateur lawyer, to apply to Vermont Law if he’s sprung from death row. The University of Virginia wants him too. “Vermont’s where I want to go.” Giarratano, 32, said by phone from the Mecklenberg state prison, where he’s awaited death for 10 years. He probably can’t get into Vermont Law- he has no college degree, which the school requires- but the state permits anyone to study law under an attorney and take the bar exam. “That’s how Thomas Jefferson got his law degree,” Giarratano said. CBS, ABC and the Virginia media have investigated his case. MASH actor and activist Mike Farrell was to meet with him: even conservative Sen. Strom Thurmond has asked for a retrial, Giarratano said. “Amnesty International is sort of making his case the poster-child case for this issue,” said Mello. “It’s got all of the sort of star qualities that the media seems to be looking for. He’s bright, articulate, and most likely innocent, (got) terrible representation at trial.” Mello, a death-row lawyer who worked on mass murderer Ted Bundy’s case, met Giarratano last year, when both fought for the right of condemned inmates to have lawyers represent the in post-conviction appeals. The two briefly worked together on Murray vs. Giarratano, which challenged Virginia’s failure to provide lawyers; the U.S. Supreme Court turned Giarratano down but remanded the case to the lower courts. “His level of sophistication as a litigator is higher than most litigators I have known. His instincts are awesome,” said Mello. “He insisted on being treated…as lead counsel in that case. The discussions that I had with him about court strategy, court politics, which justices we needed to aim the beliefs at least equal, and frankly some of his judgements were better than mine.” Will he get out? “Politicians all across Virginia are calling for a retrial or a pardon,” said Giarratano. “I’ve had more hope now than I’ve had in a long time. Everything’s snowballing. He first confessed to the 1979 murders but has recanted. Kilpatrick writes why he doubts Giarratano’s a slasher: Giarratano was in a drug-and-booze haze the night of the killings and only remembers seeing the corpses in the apartment he shared with the women. His four written confessions-the only real evidence against him, Kilpatrick says-had discrepancies him, Kilpatrick says- had discrepancies, indicating police may have used leading questions to get them. New evidence shows a right-handed man stabbed the mother. Giarratano is a lefty with a nerve-damaged right hand. There were bloody footprints at the scene but no blood on Giarratano’s soles- just a spot on his shoe, which matched the daughter’s blood type, but was never matched with the mother’s. How’d he beat years of substance abuse to become headhunting material for law schools? “When I was arrested and wound up here in the prison on death row, all the drugs stopped, “he said. “Once all the drugs were out of my system, and (after) hundreds of hours of counseling…I just seemed to get my head screwed back on straight. “In order to keep my mind off doing myself in or forcing the guards to do me in, I struck my face in a law book,” He won a case to improve conditions at Mecklenberg- not for humanitarian reasons, he admits, but to flog the prison administration: “This was a way of getting back at the Man.” After further reading- legal books, The Federalist Papers- “the whole spirit behind that just really hit home,” and he plunged into the law. Some death-row inmates can articulate what it’s like to await the executioner, while others can understand complex legal issues, Mello said; Giarratano’s special because he can do both. Both men contributed essays to a recent book about the death penalty; Giarratano describes his final talk with a prisoner friend about to be executed: “As I lifted the phone to my ear and heard my friend’s voice, I didn’t know what to say. Other that quick hellos, our conversation consisted of a few scattered questions tied together with long silences. I could feel the tears leaking from my eyes as the hopelessness overwhelmed me. I wanted to tell Mike to fight the guards until the last second- to take some of them down with him- but all I could say was “I love you, my friend. I’m sorry I can’t stop this.” Mike’s reply still rings in my ear: I’ll be fine. Joe. You know that I’m going home. Please don’t do anything that you might regret later. You have to forgive them.” “Walking back to my cell, I could barely move- it felt as if every muscle in my body were cramped. I could hear the guards asking me questions, but I knew that if I responded, my hatred would spew out at them. I felt the helplessness and hopelessness in the pit of my stomach- I wanted to pull my friend back. It wasn’t until later that I noticed the blood on my wrists where the cuffs bit into my flesh. I tried to pull Mike back, and I couldn’t.” 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. Sartori, Joe 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 Death Row Inmate Wants to Study Law Subject The topic of the resource Death row Description An account of the resource Convicted killer Joe Giarratano hopes to elude Virginia's electric chair and study law in Vermont. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Barlow, Rich Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Valley News 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 1989-11-25 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 Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Vermont Law School 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 Row Law https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/06f2fa2b432616ee6ad541404e3c18b2.jpg 4f2c05017db6a82b877eedfe2a6bb8de 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 [[Chair-image]] ‘The death penalty is a fact of life, if that isn’t an oxymoron’: North Carolina chair Lawyers go to the Supreme Court with what may be the final broad test of capital punishment When Gara LaMarche moved to Texas to become the new head of the state Civil Liberties Union, he felt a duty to participate in protests outside the capitol building on the night of executions. Two years later LaMarche and his colleagues don’t bother, allowing condemned killers to go to their deaths without benefit of public protest. “It’s the rare human being who can muster the same level of outrage for the 16th execution as for the first,” he says. “The death penalty is a fact of life, if that isn’t an oxymoron. It doesn’t mean that people don’t care—it’s that you have to focus your energies where they make a difference.” Those energies this week will be focused on the U.S. Supreme Court. Once again, carrying the hopes and fears of 1,788 inmates on the nation’s death rows, lawyers from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund will petition the court to strike down the death penalty, this time on grounds it is racially biased. The appeal promises to be the final skirmish of a long, rear-guard legal battle. “This is the last case that has the potential of clearing death row and getting rid of the death penalty,” says Mike Mello, a Florida defense lawyer. For 10 years foes of capital punishment have crafted sweeping appeals to the high court that, if successful, would have undermined dozens of death sentences. But just as regularly the court has rebuffed them, turning back ingenious claims that capital sentences were imposed in a disproportionate manner or that juries were tilted toward conviction by the elimination of potential jurors who expressed doubts about the death penalty. The cases before the court rest on the findings of researchers that killers of whites were much more likely to be condemned than killers of blacks. In a study of 2,484 Georgia homicides between 1973 and 1979, University of Iowa law Prof. David Baldus initially found that killers of whites were 11 times more likely to receive the death sentence. Determined to settle any doubts about the disparity, Baldus took another look at his piles of trial transcripts, appellate briefs, prison files, parole-board records, police reports and other documents. He reanalyzed his numbers to eliminate the statistical impact of cases with aggravating circumstances, such as those in which the murderers had long criminal records or had committed especially heinous deeds. And Baldus still concluded that killers of whites were more than four times more likely to get the death sentence than killers of blacks. Nationwide, 1,713 of the death-row inmates—about 96 percent—were killers of whites; 1,051 are themselves white. Lawyers for Warren McCleskey, a black man who killed a white police officer during a furniture-store robbery in Atlanta, used the Baldus study to appeal his sentence. But one federal court found the study flawed and another held that even if accurate it was not sufficiently compelling to eliminate other explanations for the disparate treatment of the murder defendant. On appeal to the high court, McCleskey’s lawyers will argue that the numbers are so convincing that state prosecutors should be required to explain the apparent disparities. Indeed, McCleskey’s defense lawyer, John Charles Boger, will argue that he wants the numbers treated as they are in other cases where a statistical inference is deemed sufficient for a finding of bias. “Evidence that would amply suffice if the stakes were a job promotion or the selection of a jury should not be disregarded when the stakes are life and death,” Boger says. Mary Beth Westmoreland, Georgia assistant attorney general, contends that the studies are unsound and inadequate. “There are simply too many unique factors relevant to each individual case to allow statistics to be an effective tool in providing intentional discrimination,” she argues. Georgia clearly is the favorite going into the hearing; several justices have been impatient and unsympathetic in recent years with the pace of executions. A companion case from Florida raises a related issue: does a condemned inmate have an automatic right to a hearing on claims of racial discrimination? A study of sentences in eight states, including Florida and Georgia, had shown a pattern similar to that which Baldus found. “The discrimination we found is based on the race of the victim, and it is a remarkably stable and consistent phenomenon,” explains Stanford law Prof. Samuel R. Gross. Winning on the hearing issue would give capital-punishment foes another delaying tactic, but one without much substantive bite if they lose the McCleskey appeal: attorneys would have to show overt acts of racial discrimination by prosecutors or jurors, something that is close to impossible. While the legal issues boil, execution has become a routine matter in a handful of states. “The executions are now back [in the newspapers] with the obituaries, which is where they belong,” says Texas prosecutor Cappy Eads, chairman of the National District Attorneys Association. “There’s less tendency to glamorize the executed defendant and more of a feeling that he got what he deserved.” And the pace is quickening; eight executions already this year in Texas and three others in Florida. But no state can keep up with the fresh supply of condemned inmates, 31 each in Florida and Texas since January, nearly all of whom, if they can find lawyers, will resist in the courts the trip down the Last Mile. 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. Kacoyanis, Leah 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 Death Row: Last Skirmish Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McDaniel, Ann Pedersen, Daniel Prout, Linda 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 1986-10-20 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 Washington Houston Miami Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment--America Description An account of the resource A magazine article that discusses capital punishment in America and how lawyers are trying to get rid of it. capital punishment death penalty defense lawyer Gara LaMarche Mike Mello Warren McCleskey https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/9cf79f3b3161575bba93acb8e62f6669.jpg 3918ce107d3dc1d5fd5a7aaf2b257360 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 Death? Let the jury decide Description An account of the resource An article by Michael Mello talking about the different Legislative regulations on the Death Penalty. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Michael Mello Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Miami Herald Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available UMW Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-04-27 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 jpeg, 300dpi Language A language of the resource English 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 RESPONSE to Calvin Fox’s recent explanation of three reasons why judges, not juries, should impose capital punishment: The question is important, since the Legislature is currently considering repeal of that portion of Florida’s capital-punishment stature that permits a judge to override a jury’s verdict for life imprisonment and then to impose the death penalty. <ul> <li>First, with an apocalyptic tone Mr. Fox argues that legislative repeal of the jury override will mean that “the 100 or so individuals now on Death Row may be entitled to have their death penalties set aside.” This figure is grossly exaggerated. Prof. Michael Radelet of the University of Florida, who keeps track of the statistics of Florida’s Death Row, Reports that although 87 death sentences have been imposed by trial judges, a full two-thirds of those sentences passed upon by the Florida Supreme Court have been reduced to life imprisonment. That court has affirmed death sentences in only 24 cases involving jury overrides, and several of these 24 are no longer capital cases for reasons unrelated to the override. At most repeal of the override would affect these 20 or so cases. And it need not affect even them. The Legislature could simply choose to make its new procedural rule applicable only to cases tried subsequent to the effective date of the repeal. I think such a provision would be unfair and unwise, but not unconstitutional. </li> <li>Second, Mr. Fox erroneously argues that Florida’s system of sentencing by the trial judge has been “consistently shown through intense Federal review to be the most reliable and proper system of imposing the death penalty.” This is most misleading. Almost a decade ago, the U.S. Supreme Court mad quite clear that a capital jury-sentencing stature would pass Constitutional muster provided that the jury gave its reasons for imposing death and that the state supreme court conducted a review to determine that the penalty was not applied in a disproportionate manner. Most states with the death penalty recognize that because the penalty is an expression of community outrage, an appropriate cross-section of the community whose outrage is being expressed should be given the responsibility for that decision. Of the 37 American states with capital punishment, 30 give the life-or-death decision to the jury. Mr. Fox cannot seriously mean that the statutes in these 30 states violate the Constitution, or that the 22 people put to death pursuant to these statues within the past decade were executed under unconstitutional statutes. Still, Mr. Fox argues, the death decision should be made by a “trained legal mind,” since judicial sentencing should lead to greater consistency among cases. Yet the ordinary predicates that provide consistency in non-capital sentencing, such as frequency of trying such an offense, observation of the recidivism rate for the offense, experience with the local parole and probation officers, and the like, do not pertain in the same degree, if at all, to capital cases. But more fundamentally, experience and expertise in legal rules cannot substitute for the ability of the jury to reflect community sentiment in its decision whether an individual defendant deserves to live or die. Because death-override cases are not automatically appealed to the Florida Supreme Court, there is no central data source through which such cases can be identified. Professor Radelet notes, however, that “numerous inquiries to several criminal attorneys and state officials makes us confident that there have been less than a dozen such cases since the current statutes was enacted.” Moreover, the Legislature could amend the statues to provide that a jury’s verdict for life is binding, but that the jury’s decision for death be subject for override by the court. Such a system would obviously create an asymmetry, but it is an asymmetry weighted on the side of mercy. That is offensive only if one believes that the grant of mercy to some somehow abridges the rights of others whose individual circumstances do not inspire mercy. At the guilt/innocence phase of a criminal trial, for example, a judge may enter a judgment of acquittal despite the jury’s rendition of a guilty verdict. Why not extend this principle to the penalty phase of the trial? Mr. Fox has made the best case that can be made for retention of Florida’s practice of permitting a single judge to sentence a person to die even when a jury of his peers has decided that he deserves to live. But his reasons themselves expose the bankruptcy of his position. The fact remains that the override results in a debasement of the jury’s role as the proper reflector of community sentiment. The override wastes finite judicial resources. Legislative repeal of the jury override is within the province, duty, and ethical obligation of the Florida Legislature.</li> </ul> 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 Death? let the jury decide. Description An account of the resource An article by Michael A. Mello on the Legislation regulation and its importance of jury control. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Miami Harold 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 1987-04-27 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 jpeg 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Jury--United States--Decision making. Capital punishment--Florida. 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 death penalty jurry Legislation Miami Michael A. Mello https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/13378c637a5908ce8dcd404fbfca6e36.jpg 972ee2493831a2630b1dba4aec373735 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 The current debate over execution of those Florida Death Row inmates who are, or who may be, insane raises difficult issues of law and public policy. But the issue, at least in Florida, is not whether the insane should be executed. That matter has long been resolved in the negative as a matter of state law. However, that brings us to the genuinely difficult inquiry: How can the legal system determine who is really crazy, and can Florida's administrative procedure be trusted to reliably make this life-or-death death determination? In 1927 the Florida Supreme Court held that there was a right to judicial determination of competency when a Death Row inmate claimed to be incompetent. In the 1930s the Florida Legislature enacted the present-day statute on execution competency. That law sets out a procedure for deciding who is crazy and who is not. The statute provides that when the governor is informed that a person who is under sentence of death may be insane, he or she shall appoint a commission of three psychiatrists to examine the convicted person. Counsel for the convicted person and counsel for the state may be present at the examination. After receiving the report from the commission, the governor makes and independent determination of whether the convicted person, in the language of the statute, "understands the nature and effect of the death penalty and why it is to be imposed upon him." But this procedure is insufficient to vindicate Florida's interest in not executing people who really are insane. The system invites error and, as Robert Sherrill's article in The Herald (Viewpoint, Dec. 16) demonstrated, has already resulted in error. The basic problem is that the statute provides for no hearing before the decision maker. There is no right of cross-examination and no right to present defense witnesses. The statute permits counsel to be present at the psychiatric examination, but the decision maker is not the psychiatric commission. The decision maker is the governor, and there is no hearing before him. In fact, the Florida Supreme Court has noted that the present governor has a "publicly announced policy of excluding all advocacy on the part of the condemned in the process of deciding whether a person under sentence of death is insane." A hearing before the governor would serve a variety of social values. It would provide the adversarial debate our legal system recognizes as essential to the truth-seeking process. This is especially true here, where the questions are legal, not medical, and where proper resolution of those questions is difficult under even the best of circumstances. The present procedure encourages the governor to become a slave to the psychiatric commission and to simply follow the recommendation of the doctors. This is precisely what has happened in every case so far. In Arthur Goode's case, the psychiatric commission decided that Goode was sane and the governor ordered his execution. In Gary Alvord's case, the psychiatrists found insanity and the governor stayed Alvord's execution. An open hearing also ensures that the governor recognizes that his decision profoundly affects the lives of human beings. Otherwise, it is all too easy to retreat behind a shield of paper and anonymity. Further, a hearing effectively fosters a belief that one has received his "day in court," even though he may disagree with the governor's decision. The risks of error at the initial competency determination are enhanced by the fact that Florida provides no procedure for review. The Florida Supreme Court has decided that the governor's statutory procedure is "now the exclusive procedure for determining competency to be executed." But if the judiciary is to be excluded from the initial competency determination, then some mechanism for reconsideration of the determination is needed. Reform of Florida's statutory procedure for determining execution competency can come from any of three sources: • The legislature could amend the statute. • The governor could voluntarily open the process up to advocacy. • The federal courts could mandate, as a matter of federal constitutional law, that Florida's procedure are inadequate. That precise issue is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. Ideally, change should come from the Legislature or the governor. It is our statute. We should see to it that it produces reliable results. 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. Dyke, Corey 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 Deciding who is crazy: Reform Florida's procedure Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment--Florida. Capital punishment--Florida--Public opinion. Insanity Defense--United States--Legal Cases. Description An account of the resource Opinion editorial by Michael Mello about changing the process for declaring someone legally insane or incompetent. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Miami Herald 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 1985-01-20 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 Miami, Fl capital punishment Legally insane Michael A. Mello https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/25139df2f8fed8a58724324908ff61b8.jpg d1dffd902d846d3aa062a6bdcd7f9c19 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/ca13d95a9e9b2939b4db09c703a386f4.jpg 6b14419bcb72f91e543002f0e0e0b36c 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 Are students entitled to due process of law? The Handbook provides that “all members of the College community have the right to due process in matters concerning discipline or status as members of the College community.” But Kathy Mayer has proven that the Handbook and the S.A. Constitution are essentially worthless; she has shown that even the sections of those documents which are clear and straightforward may be perverted by bizarre feats of semantic acrobatics. Joint Council last year (in the Madison case) and President Woodard this year (in the Westmoreland Four case) have indicated that the Handbook guarantee of due process is equally empty. Yet there is a somewhat more authoritative document guaranteeing us due process of law. Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution reads “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor to deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The question is whether Mary Washington College is bound by law to conform to these strictures. I believe that it is. Justice Bradley wrote in the Civil Rights Cases that “it is State action of a particular character that is prohibited. Individual invasion of individual rights is not the subject of the Amendment.” For example, the right to life is protected by the Amendment, but only against improper deprivation by the state. A private murder would not fit the requirements, but a lynching done under the auspices of police officers would. Thus, the emphasis here will be on an elaboration of the concept of “state action.” The Court early began the extension of the idea of state action to cover not only legislative action, but also action of the judicial and executive branches as well. And there was a vertical extension to include all of the governmental units subordinate to the State. The Court has found violators of the Amendment by the state courts (in Ex parte Virginia), legislatures (in Strouder v. West Virginia), executives (in Sterling v. Constantin), tax boards (in Raymond v. Chicago Union Traction Co.), boards of education (in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette), and even private enterprises that receive state aid (in Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority). When any officer or employee of the state or any of its subordinate governmental units acts in pursuance of his official function, then there is state action within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. One facet of the problem of delineating state action appears in the classification of the private owned and managed operation which receives financial aid from the state. Is the act of such a body an act of the state or is it a private act for the purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment? Obviously, a categorical answer is impossible; it would be a rather absord doctrine which would consider as state agents all people on relief, unemployed persons benefitting from state compensation plans, etc. But what of enterprises that began as purely private, but which have become so enmeshed with the agencies of state government through grants or other special governmental treatment that they take on the character of state institutions? The Supreme Court established 30 years ago that these agencies are to be considered state agencies for the purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case involved the status of Enoch Pratt Free Library, in Baltimore, Maryland. Louisa Kerr, a Negro, sued for damages and injunctive relief, asserting that she was refused admission to a training course conducted by the library. She charged that the library was performing a governmental function, that she was rejected solely because of her race, and that such rejection constituted state action prohibited by the Fourteenth Amendment. The library defended on the ground that it was a private corporation. In deciding Kerr v. Enoch Pratt Free Library, the Supreme Court held that the library’s action was in fact state action within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. The parallels between Enoch Pratt Free Library and Mary Washington College are obvious; for the purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment, both institutions are identical. This being the case, the actions of the Administration and other campus agencies in matters of discipline must conform to the Fourteenth Amendment’s “due process” clause and all that it implies. M.A.M. 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. MacIndoe, Kathleen 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 Due Process Of Law? Subject The topic of the resource Due process of law Due process of law-United States Description An account of the resource Newspaper article about the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause and its applicability to actions taken by state agencies. Colleges, categorized as state agencies, should conform to the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause regarding student discipline. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Bullet 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 1978-02-14 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 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 due process Enoch Pratt Free Library equal protection of the laws Fourteenth Amendment Mary Washington College https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/913c8f0992e6de39fed7c4a24a54495a.jpg 1e782501f60762018a2779eaca35d080 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 Editorial: Closed Subjects, Closed Minds I do not think that a liberal arts institution can do the best possible job of providing a liberal education for the students, unless the institution itself is willing to keep its scope of offerings, its procedures and its policies under continual review…as it relates to Mary Washington, this is a commitment that I…have made. Prince B. Woodward 1975 I am opposed and will remain opposed to 23 hour visitation…that's all I have to say about it and that's all I have to say about it in the future…It's a closed subject. Prince B. Woodward 1978 The attitude of MWC President Prince B. Woodward on extended visitation, as expressed in last week's BULLET, seems to deny the guarantees of an "Open Administration" he made when he became president. Dr. Woodward seems to treat sincere student concern about a major College policy with a disposition bordering on contempt. It is not the purpose of this editorial to argue for or against extended visitation. It would not be wise to take a position on the subject until all the data, including the current S.A. poll is in. But one must keep an open mind on the subject until the students, parents, and alumni have expressed their choice. Dr. Woodward seemed to acknowledge this when three years ago he said "…we shall try to always be continually alert to what might be needing changes in both the elements that we offer in the program and way we offer them." Why the regression from open-mindedness to dogmatism? Dr. Woodward serves neither his own interests nor those of the College by refusing further comment on such an important issue. Dr. Woodward should give all members of the College community the benefit of his honest opinions on this crucial issue. One of the greatest purposes of any institution of higher learning is the free exchange of ideas. It is time for Dr. Woodward to rejoin the debate over 23 hour visitation. GPW MAM 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. Latane, Sharon C. 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 Editorial: Closed Subjects, Closed Minds Subject The topic of the resource Student newspapers and periodicals Description An account of the resource An article critiquing President Prince B. Woodward on his refusal to listen to student opinions regarding an extended visitation policy. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael A. Webb, Gary P. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Mello, Michael A., and Gary P. Webb. "Editorial: Closed Subjects, Closed Minds". Mary Washington College Bullet, Tuesday, September 26, 1978, Michael A. Mello Papers, 1957-2008, Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington. 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 1978-09-26 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 23 hour visitation Anita Lynn Churney Gary Price Webb John Matthew Coski Mary Washington Bullet Mary Washington College Michael A. Mello Prince B. Woodward student activism visitation policy https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/dee1a624dc7b5b6b4bca8fdfe5cc048a.jpg 9864e132b225565bbc5436042c48b9f4 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/7e95d5b3ee8df81a7569c233998f5788.jpg a64601f72698324ba35c6f4f20577ebc 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 The phenomenon which is the subject of this editorial has variously been called "senior slump," "senior-itis" and "senior fever." But, it seems to me that the best term for this particular malady is "senior limbo:" an intermediate state, characterized by uncertainty, between two mediums. The malaise is not peculiar to seniors alone, though there appears to be a consensus among medical authorities that its most virulent strains usually strike down students with less than half-a-semester to go at Mary Washington College. Senior limbo has two distinctive aspects. On the one hand, there is an alienation and a sense of detachment from the larger College community. The academics and extra-curricular activities that recently consumed so much of our attention, now somehow seem... well, small, distant and irrelevant. At least irrelevant and small in comparison to the uncertainty of the immediate future. This sense of uncertainty, which is the second dominant aspect of senior limbo, accentuates and feeds the students' alienation from the College. Gradually, as the semester grinds inexorably forward, many seniors become increasingly aware that they do not really know what direction their lives are going to take for the nest few years. For some, the commanding questions revolve around the state of the job market. Where will I be working this time next year? What will I be doing? Will i be working in the fields I studied at Mary Washington? Did MWC really prepare me for the "real world?" For others, the questions and uncertainties cluster around graduate school. Will I get into the one I want? Will I get into any? Can I make it if I do get in? These students are members of what might be called the Cult of the Post Office; they visit the small, squat, red brick building across the road from Seacobeck with a frequency exceeded only by first-semester freshmen. The more hard-core of these seniors have checked and know that all first-class mail is usually in the boxes by 10:30; consequently, they often check their own box six or seven before that magic deadline. And they know the results of their grad school applications at a glance: a fat letter means an aceptance, a thin envelope means either a rejection or a waiting list. A "waiting list" means that the applicant might be admitted to the University if some of those who were accepted turn down the school; in other words, you're only offered a spot if someone else doesn't want it. Waiting lists are special limbos unto themselves. Gary Trudeau, creator of Doonesbury(ITALICS), captured the essence of this feeling in a dialogue that took place between Joanie Caucus(who was applying to law school) and Zonker Harris: ZONKER: Joanie, you can't just spend all day in bed, moping over your law school waiting lists. You've got to get up and around. JOANIE: No! I've got nothing to get up for. ZONKER: Well, could I bring you something to eat? Soup, maybe? JOANIE: No, I don't want anything to eat. All I want to do is WAIT. They put me on their waiting lists, so I'm going to start waiting up a storm. Wait! Wait! Wait! ZONKER: OK. JOANIE: Check back in a week. The specifics of senior limbo vary from person to person, but the elements of alienation and uncertainty appear fairly constant. The relative security and predictability of College is about to rudely end, to be replaced by... 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. Houston, Tyler 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 Editorial: Senior Limbo Subject The topic of the resource Student newspapers and periodicals Student newspaper and periodical editors Description An account of the resource An account of why seniors are stressed out and not themselves during their final semester. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Mello, Michael A. "Editorial: Senior Limbo." The Bullet (VA), April 3, 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 1979-04-03 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 JPEG 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 Michael Mello Student Life University of Mary Washington https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/513642f5d22d3e15fc6ae7aded545835.jpg 1d4ab194ff0561b4ca4bd786d232e1cd https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/d2d10dfd26d7e527819b1d28ae3e42cd.jpg b24465729abbc2300521345e27cd301a 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 A Student Senate Committee poll indicates that the students of MWC still favor the option of 23 hour visitation, that they would like to see a student member on the BOV, and that student-faculty relations could be better. The survey, conducted by the Coordinating Committee of the Senate, was designed to determine what the student body feels the major issues should be in the upcoming SA elections. Several Committee members expressed hope that their findings will set the tone for the platforms and debate in the February elections for major SA positions. The major findings of the poll were: <ul> <li>77% of those responding to the survey indicated that the drive for the option of 23 hour visitation should be continued. Of that 77%, 43% were “strongly” in favor of keeping extended visitation as a goal for the Student Association.</li> <li>92% of the respondents indicated that the Student Lobby should continue its efforts to secure student representatives on the BOV. 54% of the 92% had a “strong” opinion on this matter.</li> <li>73% of those responding to the survey indicated that they had voiced their needs and desires to their Senate representatives. 76% responded, 26% “strongly,” that there is not effective communication between the Administration and the students. 55% of the respondents felt that the SA is effective in voicing their needs and desires. But 76% said that the MWC Administration is not responsive to the needs of the student body as articulated through the SA. This same 76% favors the creation of a body within SA Senate to handle student complaints that are not academically-oriented.</li> <li>72% indicated that their major concerns with regard to campus life were related to academics.</li> <li>93% of the respondents feel that there is a need for more open student body meetings.</li> <li>74% responded that they do not feel that student leaders have an influence on the operation of the dining hall.</li> <li>91% of those responding to the survey said that the SA should work to gain student employment opportunities in the C-Shoppe, College Bookstore, and Campus Police.</li> <li>72% responded that they had “no opinion” on whether the office of Day Student President had been effective in articulation the sentiments of MWC’s commuting students.</li> <li>75% indicated that the Student Activities Fee should be used to bring larger concerts to MWC. 67% expressed a desire to see more funds used to sponsor weekend entertainment in the C-Shoppe.</li> <li>70% of the respondents indicated that the Class Council should not be required to pay Maintenance for setting up before and cleaning up after events in ACL.</li> <li>50% had “no opinion” on whether or not the department representatives were effective academically. 88% indicated that their department reps should be more aware of what their job entails.</li> <li>92% indicated that they would like to see better student/faculty relations.</li> <li>79% felt that a Student Advisory Board is needed to provide representation for students accused of Honor Code violations.</li> <li>81% indicated that the faculty sufficiently understands and supports the Honor System.</li> </ul> The final question labeled “Your favorite bitch” encouraged respondents to raise any complaints not covered in previous questions. The most frequent responses to this question were: the possibility of instituting a meal plan should be pursued; the effectiveness and competency of the Campus Police should be investigated; the practice of inspecting the books of students leaving the library should be discontinued as contrary to the Honor Code. The survey was conducted in the form of a random sample of 345 students. Committee members stress the validity of sample polls in determining mass trends and public opinion. 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. Michael Lohr 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 Election Issues Survey: What Bothers Students? 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 1979-02-13 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 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 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael Hudson, Tracy Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Mello, Michael and Tracy Hudson. "What Bothers Students." The Bullet, February 13, 1979. Subject The topic of the resource School Election Survey Description An account of the resource The major findings of a survey conducted by the student senate committee, which was designed to determine the major issues of an upcoming student election. Mary Washington Bullet Mary Washington College Michael A. Mello Student Association Student Elections Student Polls 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: 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? 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. 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. Respectfully yours, Frances W. Gravatt Drug Reality Dear Editor: 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. 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. 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. 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! 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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). 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. Sincerely, Thomas Johnson 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