5 20 256 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/9662e0863e428d79995822efd0f8462f.jpg 91590859b177ccc8079d3c05b841825c https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/339c47adb770336fa6fc2fc7b9586ddf.jpg 38fc64de0fde654871518c2f4fde8aeb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 3, 1995 Text Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Miller, Gillian Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Text Any textual data included in the document A Vermont lawyer whose newspaper essay helped win a stay of execution for convicted killer Joseph Spaziano is back on the case, objecting to plans to give the key witness a lie-detector test. Michael Mello, who represented Spaziano for a decade during appeals after his 1976 conviction, said he dropped the case in January because of illness but has recovered sooner than he expected. He rejoined the case Friday. Mello’s impassioned essay, which ran earlier this month in The Orlando Sentinel and several other newspapers insisted that Spaziano did not torture and kill 18-year-old Orlando hospital clerk Laura Lynn Harberts in August 1973 and dump her body near Altamonte Springs beside another body that was never identified. The essay questioned the credibility of Anthony Dilisio, who testified during the 1976 trial in Sanford that Spaziano took him to see the bodies. The boy hung out and used drugs with Spaziano and other members of the Outlaws motorcycle gang. Last week, Dilisio, who lives in the Florida Panhandle, began wavering about his hypnosis-enhanced testimony in interviews with reporters. His lawyer says police manipulated the young Dilisio, and that he is now sure Spaziano never took him to the dump to see any bodies. The uproar prompted Gov. Lawton Chiles to stay Spaziano’s June 27 execution pending a review by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. However, Chiles’ chief legal adviser, Dexter Douglass, said Friday that Dilisio did not recant last week when questioned about his testimony by FDLE agents. Investigators are considering giving Dilisio a lie-detector test. Mello faxed a letter to the governor Friday, saying Dilisio is not “an appropriate subject for a reliable polygraph examination.” Mello said Saturday that he fears such a test would be invalid because Dilisio’s story has changed and because of possible lingering effects of the witness’s drug use as a youth. Dilisio’s decision to talk publicly about the case after 20 years took Mello by surprise. The attorney said he and other advocates for Spaziano have tried unsuccessfully to talk to the witness. “I’d given up on Dilisio. I really had,” Mello said. “I didn’t think anyone would get any further with Dilisio than I had.” In his published essay June 4, Mello complained that Dilisio’s story was tainted by hypnosis. Years after the 1976 trial, hypnosis-induced testimony was ruled inadmissible in court, although that ruling is not retroactive to Spaziano’s case. But not all of Dilisio’s information was given under hypnosis. In a 1975 police interview two days before he was hypnotized, Dilisio said Spaziano had told him about mutilating and dumping “two girls” in an orange grove. In the interview, Dilisio said: “… he’s killed a lot of girls … Just to do it. Go out and do it.” The 16-year-old boy agreed during the interview to be hypnotized and subsequently provided prosecutors with more details. In addition to his murder conviction, Spaziano is serving a life sentence for raping a 16-year-old Orange County girl, slashing her eyes and leaving her in the woods. She survived but lost most of the sight in one eye. Mello also calls that conviction questionable. The girl, now an adult with children, is disappointed that Spaziano’s execution was stayed, her mother said. “She thinks he should go,” the woman said. “She always said she wanted to be the one to throw the switch … He left her for dead.” Douglass said Friday he has seen no evidence that Spaziano was wrongly convicted of murder. But Mello is delighted that the case is being reviewed and remains optimistic. After six unsuccessful appeals, “I thought Joe was a goner this time,” he said. 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 Essay-writing lawyer rejoins killer's case 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 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Taylor, Beth Quinn, Christopher Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-18-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 DPI Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Orlando, FL Subject The topic of the resource Lie-dector test Criminal Defense Lawyer Description An account of the resource Two newspaper articles from the Orlando Sentinel published on Sunday June 18th, 1995. The articles focused on how Michael Mello re-entered the case of Joseph Spaziano. Mello also opposed giving Anthony Dilisio, a witness in the Joseph Spaziano case a lie-dector polygraph test. This was because the events of the case would have happen twenty plus years in the past and the witness (Dilisio) could have trouble recalling the correct events without any outside influence. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Taylor, Beth and Christopher Quinn. "Essay-writing lawyer rejoins killer's case." Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, FL), Jun. 18, 1995. Taylor Beth and Christopher Quinn. "Main witness wavering about his trial testimony." Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, FL), Jun. 18, 1995. Anthony Dilisio Joe Spaziano Michael Mello https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/204aed956b04804aada2a76518a7594f.jpg 6d0f1d4eca027e7ddfc11a75371898cd https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/985c07f1d81966dff36be5a0a9321b10.jpg 5753edd614da6695a4a9284d8023a313 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/bda501f94636f18686148f9b4d577816.jpg 7fd600142c831c906e40f90e066cf1d2 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/87dc1ec7990b098cbfa3750c162f3e24.jpg 50139152ca09f8cdf361567711e13a03 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/fe87881528d5c2a87742ed67bbeead64.jpg b1b0ad0b2971185cd39d9475f4a24947 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/01131e76dc7cd734ab4dcf2defb1f6fc.jpg b061491d8aaf4db254df82ef6d548499 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/e4ce7eb943d1d38ec9b311c45bad3e6a.jpg 0ea421190d0883c842cc83b1bf2e59a7 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]Executing Justice [title] [subtitle] Vermont Law School Professor Gives Death Row Inmate New Lease on Life [subtitle] [Image of Michael Mello]<o:p></o:p> [Caption] Michael Mello sits in his home office in Wilder surrounded by paperwork he has prepared in the case of Florida inmate Joseph Spaziano and mementos from his life as a death-penalty lawyer and professor. [Caption] They call his client "Crazy Joe" Spaziano. Vermont Law School Professor Michael Mello calls him a friend. He also calls him innocent. For more than a dozen years, ever since he began arguing Spaziano's case as a fledgling public defender, Mello has fought to bring those claims of innocence to light. [Images of Spaziano and Mello] [Caption] Spaziano is shown in a family snapshot (left) before his imprisonment. A later photo (right) shows an older Spaziano in a Florida prison. Spaziano, an artist and longtime member of a motorcycle gang, gave this oil painting to Mello (below) about a decade ago. [Caption]  The case went before 26 different judges and was played out in at least 17 different court hearings. "Not a single judge in a single court ever took a look at the issue of evidence," Mello said. Until this fall. Now, the case Mello calls "too bizarre to work as fiction" may finally be drawing toward an end. Spaziano was recently granted a new trial after nearly two decades on Florida's death row. Sitting on a couch in his Wilder home, clad in a black jersey and jeans, Mello chain-smoked his way through a handful of Camel cigarettes as he told Spaziano's story. The narration rolled his tongue with easy familiarity as he pulled through a carved cigarette holder. Joseph Spaziano, now 50, was born into a working-class Italian family in upstate New York. His "crazy" behavior came, in part, from permanent brain damage he suffered after being hit by a truck at the age of 19. Originally a member of the Hell's Angels, Spaziano joined and ultimately became president of a different gang, called the Outlaws, after moving to Florida as a young man. It was there, in 1973, that an 18-year-old Orlando hospital clerk named Laura Lynn Harberts disappeared. Her decomposed body was found several weeks later in a Seminole County dump. Two years after Harberts' death, police turned their sights on Spaziano, who had a string of criminal convictions on his record- including a recent rape. Spaziano was indicted in September 1975, and convicted at trial in early 1976. No physical evidence ever linked Spaziano to the crime. The key witness, Tony DiLisio, was a teenager who had to be put under hypnosis repeatedly before recalling, in increasing detail, incriminating statements Spaziano allegedly made about the killing. Jurors did not hear about the hypnosis, but reportedly were still concerned about DiLisio's reliability and hence recommended a life sentence. The judge, noting the rape conviction on Spaziano's record, overrode the jury's wishes and gave Spaziano death. Later, the Florida Supreme Court would decide hypnosis was not a reliable way to produce evidence in a case. The ruling came too late for Spaziano. It also was revealed after trial that prosecutors knew of other evidence pointing suspicion away from Spaziano, including a witness who tied a different suspect to the scene of the murder- a man who had failed several lie-detector tests during the investigation. Despite that and more, Florida has five times tried to send Spaziano to the electric chair. If not for Mello, he would probably already be dead. Choosing A Path<o:p></o:p> Mello, now 38, grew up in Virginia, where he saw the play "Inherit the Wind" in high school and was inspired toward a career as either a journalist or a lawyer. Fearing his writing skills would not support the former, Mello said, he pursued a law degree, graduating from the University of Virginia in 1982. His first job turned out to be the one that piqued his interest in capital punishment. Serving as one of the three law clerks for Judge Robert Vance of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Alabama, Mello found himself assigned to review the judge's capital punishment cases. Mello said he was "a little disappointed" in the assignment "for about the first 20 minutes." Then, he said, he read into the pile and discovered that many death-penalty appeals raise constitutional issues. "By the end of that afternoon I was delighted I was going to be Vance's 'death clerk'," he said. One case in particular from that time period haunts him, Mello said. Ivan Ray Stanley was a retarded man on death row in Georgia of being the right-hand man in "a fairly hideous crime," Mello said. Stanley's co-defendant also appealed but had a better lawyer. When the scales of justice weighed out, Stanley went to his death. His co-defendant remained on death row. "I finished my clerkship with a good deal of liberal guilt not only for my role in the Stanley case but for death penalty cases in general," Mello said. Although he had a lucrative job offer from a private firm, Mello remained interested in trying his hand at death penalty cases in general," Mello said. Although he had a lucrative job offer from a private firm, Mello remained interested in trying his hand at death penalty cases in general," Mello said. Although he had a lucrative jon offer firm a private firm, Mello remained interested in trying his hand at death penalty work. He took a detour from his intended career path and signed on as a public defender in West Palm Beach, Fla., handling death-row appeals for that region. Mello's first death penalty filing was a 1983 legal brief to the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to decide whether it was right for the judge to override the jury's recommended sentence in Spaziano's case. The brief does not bear Mello's name because he had not yet passed the bar examination.  The Supreme Court ruled against Spaziano on the issue, but Mello then began to dig into the case in earnest, meeting with Spaziano's lawyers, speaking with DiLisio and reviewing the evidence presented at trial. At that point, he and his client had not met face-to-face. They first did so in the summer of 1984. In preparation, Mello read the Hunter S. Thompson book "Hell's Angels" to prepare for what he might find. He jokingly described the pair's first Justice <o:p></o:p> Continued from Page 19<o:p></o:p> could avoid the June death warrant." In the face of the new evidence, Chiles stayed the execution for two weeks and ordered an internal law enforcement investigation of DiLisio's claims, The investigation, which the governor then sealed, concluded that DiLisio's change of heart was not reliable. The delay, however, had lasted until the start of the state Supreme Court's summer break, staving off a new execution order until fall. It also gave the Miami Herald time to dig further into the case. “Then they started coming up with all sorts of stuff," Mello said. "Watching a major, big-city newspaper with the resources to investigate the case the way I always wished I had the resources to investigate was a pleasure for me to watch," he said. Media interest in the case snowballed. It was featured, among other places, in newspapers throughout Florida, became the topic of syndicated columns, reports in The Nation, The New Republic, The Economist and a segment of the ABC nightly news. When the Florida Supreme Court returned from summer break in late August, Spaziano's fifth death warrant came out. Mello filed for a new stay of execution. The Supreme Court gave Spaziano a stay on his 50th birthday-Sept. 12. It also ordered a hearing in the case. Mello balked, however, at the fact that he had only days to prepare. He also had just maxed out his last credit card- part of an estimated $15,000 in out-of-pocket expenses he said he had spent on the case. In a brash letter to the court, he refused to go forward. "There was no way on earth I could be ready." The court took his refusal as his resignation from the case. Mello enlisted a private firm to defend Spaziano, who in turn signed on an experienced criminal defense lawyer. The new defense team was allowed more time to prepare for the hearing. After six days of testimony in January, Spaziano won his new trial- a decision Mello had felt was "virtually impossible" so late in the game. Circuit Judge O. H. Eaton Jr. wrote in his opinion that he found DiLisio's recantation credible, and added that without DiLisio's original testimony, "there simply  is no corroborating evidence in the trail record that is sufficient to sustain the verdict." The judge ordered a new trial to begin in late March.  That date, however, has been postponed while prosecutors appeal the new trail order, Mello said. They contend DiLisio has nothing to lose by changing  his story now and is simply seeking publicity. Meanwhile, Spaziano has been moved off of death row and back into the general prison population for the first time since his sentencing. He is no longer confined to a cell most of the day, can place telephone calls more easily and has more ready access to art supplies for cartooning, his hobby and talent.   What Spaziano most wanted Mello to know, however, when he first called, was that he was surrounded as they spoke by seven members of the Outlaws who would protect him in prison.  Mello said Spaziano's ties to the biker group had provided a continuity that had "kept him going."  "He loves those people... and the ones I've gotten to know love him too." In fact, Spaziano had won permission to wear the club's T-shirt if his execution was carried out in the fall. Spaziano has seen 21 people on Florida's death row killed since executions resumed in 1977. "Two or three" of those were friends, according to Mello. He has a 23-year-old daughter and three grandchildren who can't remember when he was not in jail. Question the System Meanwhile, the Vermont lawyer who said Spaziano "is fond of saying that he and I grew up together" has reached a milestone in his own career. He has decided that Spaziano's case will not only be his first death penalty appeal but also his last. "To function efficiently as a defense lawyer in capital punishment as a legal system you need to have more faith and more trust in the judiciary  and the prosecution and the others in the legal system than I have after working on the Joe Spaziano case," Mello said. "The system would have killed Spaziano in a heartbeat. ...If that's how the system treats people who are innocent, then that isn't a system I can continue to participate in good faith." "Lots of people have said to me, "The system finally worked,' and that is so wrong, because the system didn't work-the legal system was forced, kicking and screaming every minute of the way, into doing right in this case," Mello said. Mello said he planned to engage in what he called "conscientious abstention." He will continue to write and speak about death penalty issues, as well as teach a death penalty seminar as part of his course load at the law school. Students in his fall 1995 seminar helped prepare U.S. Supreme Court appeals in Spaziano's case. His book on the capital punishment dissents of U.S. Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan is due out soon. Two other manuscripts are in the works, and he is toying with writing a book about Spaziano's case. "It's a hell of a story," he said. The next step for Spaziano, Mello said, is an appeal of his prior rape conviction- which he contends was also falsely pinned on his client. The same Florida lawyer who handled the January hearing has agreed to take the lead in the rape case as well. If that succeeds along with the murder appeal, Spaziano could be released from prison. Mello said he was considering what would happen to Spaziano then, and had come up with an answer. He gestures with his glasses toward the staircase behind him. "The guest room upstairs," is his answer. A visitor might be inclined to think he's kidding, but he's not. "We've got to get him out of Florida, where every law enforcement officer and every prosecutor will be salivating to nail him again." He said he had no concerns about making such an offer to "Crazy Joe." "I would trust Joe with my life, as he trusted me with his."<o:p></o:p> 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. 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 Executing Justice Subject The topic of the resource Spaziano, Joe Capital punishment Description An account of the resource Michael Mello, a Vermont Law School Professor, has a background of working for death row inmates. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anderson, Liz Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Vermonters 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 1996-03-14 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 7 jpg 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/91cd38cf4d7feb29cedd17be8f290617.jpg f364e1fc7434d9f01c680081e9b7c334 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 Execution still on, judge says Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/d56f6bbcf41117ce287882b584bd26d2.jpg 781f0c8804b813682a5978d97c605e14 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 Calling the appeal “a gross abuse” of the legal system, a federal judge Tuesday refused to postpone the execution of convicted police killer Alvin Bernard Ford, scheduled to die Thursday in the state’s electric chair. Meanwhile, a divided Florida Supreme Court blocked the scheduled execution of John O’Callaghan by a 4-3 vote an hour after hearing arguments in the condemned inmate’s mercy appeal. His execution was also scheduled for Thursday. Attorneys for Ford, anticipating the ruling against their client, filed an appeal to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal in Atlanta before U.S. District Judge Norman C. Roettger even announced his decision in West Palm Beach. “Time is at a premium,” said Michal Mello, one of Ford’s three attorneys. The 31-year-old Ford, who has exhausted more appeals than any other Death Row inmate, will die at 7 a.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison in Starke unless the appeal court or the U.S. Supreme Court finds a reason to delay the execution. Ford was convicted of shooting to death Fort Lauderdale police officer Dmitri Walter Ilyankoff during a bungled restaurant robbery in 1974. The Florida Supreme Court upheld his sentence five years later. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court denied his appeal. Gov. Bob Graham signed his first death warrant in 1981. A month later – and 14 hours before he was to be electrocuted – the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal granted a postponement. The court dissolved the stay 13 months later. In April, Graham again signed Ford’s death warrant. The state Supreme court denied a stay May 25. Roettger used strong words Tuesday to express his irritation with Ford’s latest appeal, which was based on his attorneys’ belief that Ford is now insane. “This is absolutely a classic pattern of a defendant allegedly having a mental problem and perceiving a rook card in this possession… and holding it in the vest pocket until the last possible minute,” Roettger said. Richard Burr III, along with Mello, tried to convince the judge that Ford should be examined by psychiatrists and the results presented in court. In the past two years, Ford has gradually developed severe paranoid delusions, Burr said. He became obsessed that the Ku Klux Klan was keeping his family hostage, and torturing then, in a “pipe alley” near his cell. He now believes that he is a member of the Klan, that he personally has overturned the death penalty and is staying in prison only because he wants to, Burr said. Florida law – and the U.S. Constitution, Mello argued – prohibit the execution of an insane person. Burr and Mello contended that Ford’s sanity never has been formally determined in court. Joy Shearer, an assistant state attorney general, disagreed. “A determination of sanity has been made, and properly so, by the governor,” she said. Last December, Graham appointed a panel of three psychiatrists to examine Ford to determine if he understood the death penalty and why he had been sentenced to die. They found he did. One doctor called Ford’s delusions “contrived and recently learned.” But Burr and Mello said the decision by the panel of psychiatrists didn’t constitute a true judicial hearing. Judge Roettger, who also denied an execution stay for Ford in 1981, chastised the attorneys repeatedly for waiting until “the very last, frantic minute” to raise the issue of Ford’s sanity. “This has got to be a gross abuse of the system,” he said. After the two-and-a-half-hour hearing, Mello denied that he and Burr had “sandbagged” the case. “We filed absolutely as soon as possible. If the claim would have been ripe before, we would have filed it then,” he said. O’Callaghan, 38, was under a death warrant for the Aug. 20, 1980 killing of Gerald Vick, a bodyguard for the co-owner of a Hallandale bar where O’Callaghan worked. The high court’s decision to intervene in O’Callaghan’s case came after a circuit court last Thursday refused to issue a stay of execution. The Supreme Court gave no explanation for its unsigned, one-sentence opinion. Nor did the justices say whether they will grant O’Callaghan’s request for a new trial. 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 Execution still on, judge says Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hoffman, Lisa Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Miami Herald Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984-05-30 Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment--Florida. 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 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington 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, Florida https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/40550272d501b926e39272bde3889d48.jpg 198e8f5cbb8edd843ea08938b081bca2 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/749a513b135faf87a50ca769ebddf9b0.jpg f541ba69bb04744a6f6df873e93f876c 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 Eyewitness Account of Rally On Sunday, January 22, there was a rally and march in Washington DC to protest the arrival of Ms. Anita Bryant, and to show to her and the community, the gay solidarity and support for 34, the Human Rights Law currently in effected in DC. I was in attendance. When my friend and I arrived at 5:45 pm there were already quite a number of people milling around DuPont Circle, listening to Lyn Frizzell perform his music. One of his songs, entitled “Hurricane Anita” was written in protest of Ms. Bryant’s recent attack on the gay rights ordinance in Dade County, Florida. The song unified the audience and bought a roaring applause from the gloved hands of a crowd now nearing 1000. Casse Culver, another singer and songwriter, performed several of her songs and urged us all to sing along. Afterward, she gave a short speech. Next, on the rally program was Leonard Matlovich. Once an airforce sergeant with many decorations, he was handed a less-than-honorable discharge when he disclosed his homosexuality. His was a stirring speech, advocating equality of rights for all. After Matlovich’s speech, a nun representing Catholic support for gay rights spoke. Following her were several others including Frank Kamony, and David Kopay, ex-pro-football player. Both gave rousing speeches. At seven o’clock it was time to move our nearly frozen bodies toward the Washington Hilton where Ms. Bryant was staying. As the crowd moved down Connecticut Avenue with candles in hand, I could see the immensity of the procession. We were near the rear of the line which was three abrest from DuPont Circle all the way to the Hilton, three and half blocks away. When we neared the Hilton, we could see that the entire hotel block was encircled about 25 people deep, all with candles held high. The crowd sang “We Shall Overcome” and “America the Beautiful” during the walk to the Hilton, groups of marchers also began chanting “Gay and Proud” and “2, 4, 6, 8, Gay is just as good as Straight!” It was my first march, and it was quite an experience. The DC police were there to make sure that no one tried to infringe upon our rights to peacefully assemble. All went smoothly, and in my opinion, quite successfully. Official sources estimate the crowd at over 2000 people. Seeing such support for gay rights in our nation’s capital makes me honestly believe that we shall overcome someday! 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. Humphries, Kim 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 Eyewitness Account of Rally Subject The topic of the resource Gay rights Description An account of the resource A student's account of a Washington DC gay rights rally, in protest of Ms. Anita Bryant's attack on gay rights ordinance in Dade County, FL. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A Mary Washington Student Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Prometheus 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 1977 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 400 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 gay rights LGBT support for gays https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/ae7798ab0914fe709e5f1966242d532a.jpg be7939f2053af724d903f9081bcfbf08 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 [Start of Article] [Heading] Fired For Saving His Client's Life [Start of Column One] "IF THIS COURT INtends to kill this innocent man by depriving him of the effective assistance of counsel," pro bono counsel Michael Mello wrote the Florida Supreme Court last September 8, "then it will do so without my complicity. I will not participate in a sham evidentiary 'hearing.'" To stop the machinery of death from claiming his client, Mello threw himself in the gears. By refusing to show up for a hearing for which he had been given less than a week to prepare---and highlighting that, in his opinion, his client was being denied effective assistance of counsel---he shamed the court into granting a stay of execution and time to prepare properly. For years the eccentric Mello now a professor at Vermont Law School ["When Worlds Collide," June 1995], had written in pleadings, law review articles, and newspaper editorials that his death row client, Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano, was innocent. Mello's writings were always passionate, always verbose, occasionally offensive, and never successful. Spaziano, a member of an Orlando motorcycle gang, was [End of Column One] [Start of Column Two] convicted in January 1976 of brutally murdering Laura Harberts, an 18-year-old hospital clerk, who disappeared on August 5, 1973, and whose skeletal remains were discovered in a garbage dump 16 days later. While the case raised numerous perplexing legal issues, the most disturbing was that---unbeknownst to the jury---the testimony of the key prosecution witness, a troubled teenage drug addict named Anthony DiLisio, consisted almost entirely of hypnotically recovered memories. Although the state supreme court letter decided that hypnotically induced testimony was so unreliable as to be inadmissible per se, both that court and the federal courts refused to upset Spaziano's conviction, since his trial lawyer had never objected to DiLisio's testimony on those grounds. Indeed, his trial lawyer chose not to let the jury know that DiLisio's testimony was hypnotically induced, fearing that the jury might give it undue credence if it knew. While Spaziano's fourth execution warrant was pending in June 1995, DiLisio, now a born-again Christian, recanted his testimony. Governor Law- [End of Column Two] [Start of Column Three] ton Chiles briefly stayed Spaziano's execution to investigate the recantation, but in late August he issued a fifth warrant, claiming that a report by state investigators---which Chilies refused to make public---established that the recantation was false. Spaziano was to die September 21. On September 8 Mello went to the Florida Supreme Court seeking a stay of execution and an evidentiary hearing concerning the recantation. The Court granted the hearing, but refused to order a stay of execution. Instead, by a 4-to-3 vote, the court ordered Mello, an appellate lawyer with very little trial experience, no associates, and no investigator, to handle an evidentiary hearing one week later, on September 15. The court also ordered the state's Office of the Capital Collateral Representative (CCR)---a public defender's office devoted to capital post-conviction appeals---to assist Mello. Mello refused to comply. "We would have thrown a hearing together," he says, "put on enough evidence so that [the justices could say], 'Yeah, you had your hearing,' we would [End of Column Three] [Start of Column Four] [Image: Photograph of Michael Mello] have lost, the [trial-level] judge would have made killer fact-findings against us, and . . . Joe would have been dead on time and as scheduled." In a handwritten fax sent from his motel to the supreme court on the night of September 8, Mello just said no. He wrote, among other things, that he and CCR could not provide competent assistance with just six days' preparation. Mello also pledged that he would not surrender his 25 boxes of case files to CCR or to any other attorney in time for the hearing. "If you are going to kill an innocent man without a lawyer," he wrote, "you will do so in such a way that the whole world will see what you are doing. . . . I will not be your mask." [End of Column Four] [Start of Column Five] The high court blinked. On September 12 it threw Mello off the case, but granted Spaziano a stay. Then, in January, after new pro bono attorneys at 470-lawyer Holland & Knight took over the case---and the supreme court allowed them almost three months to prepare---circuit judge O.H. Eaton, Jr., of Sanford, Florida, overturned Spaziano's conviction and granted a new trial. "Mike Mello's responsible for Joe Spaziano's life," says H&K partner Gregg Thomas, who handled the hearing with his partner Stephen Hanlon and Orlando-based criminal specialist James Russ, Holland & Knight donated about $400,000 in lawyer time and $70,000 in costs to handle the hearing, Thomas estimates, not counting Russ's time. The state has appealed Judge Eaton's ruling to the Florida supreme court. Meanwhile, Spaziano is still serving life for the 1974 rape and battery of a 16-year-old girl. Mello believes Spaziano is innocent of that charge as well. But, as Mello says, "That's another story." ---Roger Parloff [End of Column Five] The American Lawyer April 1996.19 [End of Article] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Format: Magazine Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Schroeder, Audrey 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 Fired For Saving His Client's Life Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Spaziano, Joe Description An account of the resource Michael Mello is fired for trying to save Joseph Spaziano's life. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Parloff, Roger 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 1996-04 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. Language A language of the resource English Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Parloff, Roger. “Fired For Saving His Client's Life.” The American Lawyer, April, 1996, 19. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/8ee509b6b058ffa5ad54aa01cd95f17c.jpg 5dafb906475d652eb6d02e2b0e3ebdaa 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 JACKSONVILLE, Fla., April 7 (AP) — On the eve of his execution date in November 1984, Gary Alvord was interviewed by three psychiatrists who asked him about his understanding of of how and why he was to die in the electric chair. The doctors reported their findings to Gov. Bob Graham. He decided Mr. Alvord did not understand the impending punishment, so the inmate was sent to a state mental institution. This month, in a separate capital punishment case, the United States Supreme Court is to hear arguments on whether the Constitution protects the mentally incompetent from execution and whether Florida's method of determining competence is proper. The Florida law says that if the inmate "understands the nature of the death penalty and why it is to be imposed on him" he can be executed. A 'Narrow and Precise' Issue "That's a very, very narrow and precise thing," said Dr. David Taubel, director of mental health for the State Department of Corrections. "If a person knows he is going to be executed because he killed a person, he fits the definition of competence in the law." Opponents say the law improperly leaves the decision to the Governor, in this case one who has ordered more than 100 execution, 13 of which have been carried out. Dick Burr, a public defender, said: "We believe the decision of competence should be made by a judge, not by the Governor. The Governor of this state is too pro-death. The decision should be decided by a neutral judicial process." Another Man Awaits Outcome Mr. Burr had raised the competency question on behalf of Alvin Ford, another death row inmate. His is the case the Supreme Court is scheduled to review. Mr. Ford's lawyers say that since he entered prison 11 years ago for the 1974 killing of a Fort Lauderdale police officer he has gone insane and is "flamboyantly schizophrenic." The state maintains that Mr. Ford is mentally competent to be executed. Also awaiting the court's ruling will be Aubrey Dennis Adams Jr., who was determined fit to be executed by a panel of psychiatrists who examined him March 6. His attorneys say the inmate has amnesia and does not remember the day in January 1978 that an 8-year-old Ocala girl was strangled, the death for which he was convicted. Dr. Ernest Miller, one of the psychiatrists who examined Mr. Adams, said competency should be decided in a court setting "and stand the test of adversarial proceedings." "Let the psychiatrists defend their reasoning," said Dr. Miller, of University Hospital in Jacksonville. In a recent interview, Governor Graham said the issue was whether the inmate understood what the punishment was while execution was imminent. "It's not a question of guilt or innocence," he added. Dr. George Barnard, a University of Florida psychiatrist who participated in one panel considering competence and vows never to do it again, said that no clear standards governed what the psychiatrists should do and how they should report and that a more detailed examination was needed. In Mr. Adam's case the psychiatrists asked him if he knew why they were examining him, if he understood the execution process, his feelings about his family, what he remembered about the day of the crime, what his trial defense was and what he had for lunch the day before, said Michael Radelet, a sociologist at the University of Florida. "They didn't gather enough information or the right information," said Mr. Radelet, who sat in on the interview. Mike Mello, who helped defend Mr. Adams, questioned how three psychiatrists could rule that he was competent to die in the hour they spent with him in what he called a "circus environment." They psychiatrists reported to the Governor's office. Governor Graham determined that Mr. Adams could die the next morning. The execution was stayed by the Supreme Court. Mr. Mello, who researched the competency issue in the Adams and Ford cases, sail all that defense attorneys wanted was "a fair determination of competency." 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. Steele, Andrew Notes Additional information regarding your item. This content will not be viewable in the Public View. The duplication of 'of' in the first paragraph is present in the original, as is the omission of a comma between 'was' and 'and' in the 17th paragraph. "They psychiatrists" is "The psychiatrists" in original text- James Stewart 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 Florida Challenged on Determining Sanity of Condemned Inmates Description An account of the resource Determining whether a person is competent to be executed should be left to judges and not governors. Psychiatrists have no real guidelines for examining the competence of a death row inmate. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The New York Times Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-04-08 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 1 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 Jacksonville, FL Subject The topic of the resource Ford, Alvin E. (Alvin Earle), 1937- Prisoners--Mental health services. United States. Supreme Court. Alvin Ford Aubrey Dennis Adams Jr. Bob Graham David Taubel Dick Burr Ernest Miller Florida Fort Lauderdale Gary Alvord George Barnard Jacksonville Michael Radelet Mike Mello Ocala Supreme Court University of Florida https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/bc66b7c29c7fb109d08aae80d0a1fedb.jpg 2f1eddca65bc48a67135ec5a083f1f7f https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/6a3aa9a7ccc63ec6a8c7d582ad15040a.jpg 7958f917ea03938a99a614845b98cb49 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 Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. McDonough, Caitlin Text Any textual data included in the document TALLAHASSEE – To their dismay, prosecutors are learning that Florida’s death sentence law suffers from a kind of genetic defect – a flaw that could give dozens of killers a second chance at life sentences. Last month, the state Supreme Court ruled that a crucial jury instruction about premeditation and cruelty in Florida capital cases is unconstitutional. That decision sprang from a similar ruling by the U.S Supreme Court. Combined, the two cases probably represent the most significant death penalty setbacks for prosecutors since the mid-1980s, experts say. In both decisions, the courts ruled that standard jury instructions used in virtually every Florida death penalty case gave jurors too much discretion to demand death. The result: The sentences of most of Florida’s 339 Death Row inmates probably will have to be reviewed in appeals courts over the next few years. For the majority of condemned inmates, the error probably will not prevent their eventual execution. But at least a few prisoners will escape the electric chair as a result of the rulings. In fact, one – Davidson James, convicted of the 1981 robbery-murder of an elderly Hillsborough County woman – already has. He got a life sentence when his case went back. And there’s a chance that the problem eventually will require new sentencing before new juries in dozens of cases. That would mean even more inmates would avoid electrocution. “This is a major constitutional change in the law,” said Steven Goldstein, an associate dean at the Florida State University law school. Mark Schlakman, a legal adviser to Gov. Lawton Chiles, says that the state’s death penalty jury instructions ought to be thoroughly reviewed in the wake of the decisions. The instructions are written by committees of lawyers and approved by the state Supreme Court. Said Jacksonville State Attorney Harry Shorstein: “Of course, it’s difficult enough to try death penalty cases without changing the rules after the fact.” Prosecutors have been burned before by a similar ruling. In a 1987 case called Hitchcock vs. Dugger, the U.S. Supreme Court threw the state for a loop when it held another Florida jury instruction relating to evidence in the defendant’s favor was unconstitutional. Eventually, about … Death Row inmates got new sentencing hearings. Damage Control This time around, with so many more sentences at risk, Florida officials are hoping to avoid that kind of chaos. And state Supreme Court justices already have made it clear that they’ll strictly enforce procedural rules that could halt most of the appeals. In fact, some Death Row defense lawyers complain that the justices are overdoing the damage control – possibly to avoid embarrassment. “Unless the court found some way to limit the scope of [the recent cases], the disruption on Florida’s Death Row could be significant and the Florida Supreme Court could wind up being the one blamed by the public,” said Michael Mello, a Vermont Law School professor who’s perhaps the leading expert on Florida’s death penalty jury instructions. Jury instructions are the way that the law gets applied to individual cases. If those instructions are flawed, jurors are liable to apply the law incorrectly. That’s exactly what happened in the two recent cases, the courts [are saying]. April 21 in the case of Andrea Hicks Jackson, who had been sentenced to death for the slaying of a Jacksonville police officer. In her appeal, Jackson’s lawyers alleged that a key jury instruction used at her trial was unconstitutionally vague. The instruction told jurors how to define of of the key aggravating factors used to justify death, the “cold, calculated and premeditated” factor. Jurors apparently found that the factor applied, because they recommended the death penalty for Jackson by 7-5. But on appeal, Jackson’s lawyers argued that the jury instruction was unconstitutionally broad. The state Supreme Court concluded that Jackson’s lawyers were right. By a 5-2 cote, the court invalidated the jury instruction and ordered a new sentencing for Jackson before a new jury. Two justices Ben Overt[…] and Parker Lee McDonald, […]ented, saying th[…] though […] instruction was […]. […], the majority […] the penalty phase of […]] case in which the […] jury instruction [on that aggravating factor] was given subject to attack,” The decision was prompted by an earlier U.S supreme Court ruling invalidating another Florida jury instruction. That decision, issued in 1992, threw out the instruction on the so-called “heinous atrocious or cruel” aggravating factor. Again, the problem was vagueness. The potential damage is so large because most Florida death cases involve one or both of the aggravating factors under attack. Florida prosecutors can expect to limit the damage significantly, however. First prosecutors can argue that defendants who didn’t object to the instruction at their trials aren’t eligible for relief. Second, they can argue that the incorrect jury instruction didn’t make any difference in the outcome – for example, where the killer’s sentence was supported by two or three other aggravating factors. So far, those methods have stymied all but four of the 25 or so Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Notes Additional information regarding your item. This content will not be viewable in the Public View. ink splotch in the middle of the article. 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 Florida Court ruling could spare lives of some condemned inmates Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McKinninon, John D. 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 1994-05-07 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. Language A language of the resource English Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 jpgs 300 dpi Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived McKinninon, John D., "Florida court ruling could spare lives of some condemned inmates," Miami Herald, May 7, 1994. 1A, 16A. Subject The topic of the resource Florida Supreme Court Death Penalty Death Row Description An account of the resource The Flordia Court made a ruling to spare the lives of condemned inmates. death penalty Death Row inmates Michael A. Mello Michael Allen Mello Michael Mello Supreme Court Supreme Court of Florida https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/571ea5a9632db8c671036f98f3cafd88.jpg e2e3b117e416239dad60eb91290d7471 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 David Livingston Funchess, a decorated Viet Nam war veteran, died in Florida's electric chair Tuesday afternoon after Gov. Bob Graham refused him executive clemency and the U.S. Supreme Court denied him a stay of execution. Funchess had originally been scheduled to die at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning but a panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal in Atlanta granted him a five-hour stay so the High Court would have time to rule on the case. The Supreme Court delayed the execution another five hours but voted 7-2 to reject the appeal. Following a two-minute surge of 2,000 volts, Funchess, 39, was pronounced dead at 5[:]11 p.m. He is the 15th man to die in the state's electric chair since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 and the first Viet Nam veteran to be executed in the nation. When asked by prison officials if he wanted to make a last statement to the press, Funchess said "No." Defense attorneys argued the ex-Marine suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder-a recently recognized war-induced mental illness-at the time he was convicted for two 1974 Jacksonville bar murders. In their court appeals and request for executive clemency from the governon, they said PTSD was never mentioned during Funchess' 1975 trial or sentencing. "This man came back from Viet Nam in real bad shape," said Tom Fischer, a member of Veterans for Peace who spent one year in Viet Nam. "That was never considered in court. We're protesting the fact that he was executed without considering that. To ignore it is to ignore him as a human being." Fischer and 30 others gathered for a second time at the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial across from the Old Capitol on Monroe Street for a vigil following the execution Tuesday afternoon. The group had protested the execution earlier at a noon vigil. Fischer told reporters that if the governor or other politicians who were present at the dedication of the war monument last November had respect for those who fought in Viet Nam, they would have reconsidered Funchess' case. "Not long ago, when this (the memorial) was built, Gov. Graham and other politicians stood here and said that it was time to separate the warriors from the war," said Fischer, adding Graham had reneded on that statement by not considering Funchess' Viet Name experiences. "I don't consider Graham a friend of Viet Nam vets." Despite appeals from defense attorneys, Graham refused executive clemency to Funchess Monday. The governor's legal advisor Art Weidinger said the effects of PTSD on the former soldier had already been presented to Graham at his first clemency hearing in 1982. "He (Graham) didn't believe PTSD was a factor in considering clemency," Weidinger said Tuesday. He said Graham feels Funchess' case has been litigated fully in the courts. But Michael Mello, a lawyer for Capital Collateral Review--a state-funded agency that represents indigent Death Row inmates--said the issue at hand was that PTSD had not been presented as mitigating evidence to the jury that tried Funchess for murder in 1975. He said PTSD had not even been recognized as a genuine illness back then, but regardless of that, Funchess' trial lawyers should have included his 1967 tour of Viet Nam as part of the evidence. "That's where it (the evidence) counted," said Mello. "Once you've already been convicted, there's a real inertia to commute the death sentence to life in prison. David's trial lawyer could have done more--the jury could have been told he was a decorated war hero, they could have been told about his childhood. All of that would've been incredible mitigating evidence to the jury even though PTSD had not been diagnosed," Mello said. According to court affidavits, Funchess never committed a crime before going to Viet Name. But he returned from Southeast Asia a drastically changed man. At the late afternoon vigil, people looked at their watches. it was 5:20. "It must be over by now," one woman told another. Others held each other and wept. Still others stared at the color photograph of Funchess in his Marine uniform placed atop a basket of flowers. The group formed a circle in between the two huge granite columns that for the war monument. Rev. Jim Hardison, a coordinator of the death penalty project for Florida IMPACT--an interfaith lobby group for social justice issues--said he was angered not by capital punishment per se but by the way the state administers it. "Again we've taken a poor, penniless, minority person who was mentally ill and executed him," Hardison said. Other present said they felt compelled to speak. "We're really appalled by your callous indifference toward David Funchess," said Linda Reynolds, Director of the Florida Clearinghouse on Criminal Justice, referring to the governor. "Viet Nam veterans will not forget what you've done today.["] "David Funchess was killed twice by society," Reynolds said. "Once in Viet Nam and once today." A United Press International story was used to compile this report. 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. 73, No. 148 Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Daniel, Michael 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 Florida kills Viet Nam vet in electric chair Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Basu, Moni Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Florida Flambeau 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 1986-04-22 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Tallahassee, Florida Description An account of the resource David Funchess was the first U.S. Vietnam Vet to be executed by a state. Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpg capital punishment Vietnam veterans https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/236977d4c781f8dfd2072d8367518b9e.jpg f7e10d719ab225aa90c5bbb0d0804a89 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 3, 1995 Text Text Any textual data included in the document On June 27 Florida intoned to execute Joseph "crazy Joe" Spaziano for a murder that he probably did not commit. The facts and the chronology are nit much in dispute. On or about Aug. 6, 1973, someone brutally murdered Laura Lynn Harberts of Orlando. On Aug 21 a passer-by found her decomposed body in a trash dump in Seminole County. Harberts probably had been stabbed to death. Beverly Fink, Harberts's roommate, told police that on Sunday afternoon the 5th, as she was labeling the apartment she was leaving the apartment that they shared, Harberts was on the telephone. "Hold on a minute Joe," she said to her caller. Was she talking to Joe Spaziano? Fink said that the two were acquainted, but barely so; they were not dating. Almost two years passed. It was not until the summer of 1975 that police arrested Spaziano and charged him with the crime. Most of the police investigation in the period focused on another man entirely. But Spaziano had a bad . He had prior conviction for rape, and he was president of the Outlaws Motorcycle Brotherhood in the Orlando area. There was the suggestive "Hold on a minute, Joe," and Harberts and Spaziano had at least met. In July 1973 he had come by the apartment. Spaziano became the best suspect ah the police could find. Spaziano’s went to jail in July 1975. He asserted his absolute innocence. The key witness against him was Tony Dilisio, 18, who testified to this effect: that he had once idolized Spaziano as an outlaw biker; that he hope to become a member of the brotherhood himself; that at some point- he could not remember when-Spaziano took him to the Seminole dump and boasted that he had dumped the bodies of two women there. “Man, that’s my style.” That was substantially all the evidence that the persecution had to offer. As the prosecutor himself acknowledged, without Dilisio’s testimony, they had no case. The jurors doubted that guilt had been proved. Judge Robert McGregor twice had to order them back to their room to reach a verdict. The jurors never got the whole story. Two aspects of the trial are especially disturbing: *The state knew that on the Sunday afternoon question, Harperts and Fink worked This was never disclosed to the jury. * For some inexplicable reason, Spaziano’s trail Council never brought out that Dilisio’s testimony had been induced under hypnosis. During his first interrogation by police, Dilisio never mention the visit to the dump and vainglorious boast. It was only under hypnosis, coupled with highly suggestive questions, that he much later “remembered” the incident and enlarged upon the incrimination conversation. (In 1985 the Flordia Supreme Court held that hypnotically induced evidence is unreliable and inadmissible, but the ruling was nit made retroactive). In any event, Spaziano did not testify, and the jury found him guilty. One juror recalls the the vote was either 10-2 or 9-3 to recommended life inprisionment, but McGregor overruled the jury and sentenced Spaziano to death. The court took note of Spaziano's prior conviction for rape: the crime had especially "heinous, atrocious, and cruel"; No mitigating evidence had been offered. “Crazy Joe,” as the indictment identified him, was a leader of the Outlaw bikers. His brother, in full biker regalia, had attended trial. The long process of appeals and potion for habeous corpus began. In 1984 the US Supreme Court affirmed conviction, 6-3, with Justices John Paul Stevens, William Brennan, and Thurgood Marsh dissenting. They reasoned that its is cruel and unusual punishment for a judge to overrule a jury and impose a death sentence on his own. Since then the case been up and down, and in and out, Spaziano, now 51, has been on Death row for 20 years. Professor Michal Mellow of Vermont Law School an authority in the law of capital punishment, came late into the case as Spaziano's appellate counsel. He is convinced "down ti the very marrow of my bones" that his client is innocent. Other investigators have expressed serous doubts of the defendant's guilt. A Clear case for clemency Now it is up to Gov. Lawton Chiles and the Cabinet, sitting Board ofExecutive Clemency. Given the totality of the circumstance- the withheld evidence the testimony induced by hypnosis, the jury's recommendation of life- it is hard to imaging e a better case for clemency. Despite all my wanning conduce in capital punishment, I believe that there are especially atrocious cases, in which guilt has been proved far beyond a reasonable doubt, when the death sentence may be justified. Crazy Joe's case is different. It response with doubt. I cannot argue Spaziano's invoice as Mello can- I have not read the trail record- but I am satisfied that in this case the stated played dirty pool with the life of a not very likable man. 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. 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 Florida may execute innocent man Subject The topic of the resource Death row Death row inmates Description An account of the resource Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano is an inmate on death row for a murder that he may not have committed. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The 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 1995-06-08 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 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/6f4b45068640818d40a33d967d219c33.jpg c440d58ba691144356781d864790a458 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 [Header] Florida Supreme Court grants Spaziano a stay of execution By Brad Barnes News Journal Staff Writer [[start article]] On Joseph “Crazy Joe” Spazian-o’s 50th birthday, the Florida Supreme Court announced he will not be executed as planned next week, because his attorney refused to cooperate with state lawyers. “I had the real pleasure of telling Joe about the stay, which he thought of as his birthday present from me,” said Spaziano’s attorney Michael Mello. “Isn’t that just pure Hollywood?” It is the fifth time Spaziano has dodged a death warrant for the 1973 murder of Laura Lynn Har-berts, an 18-year-old Orlando hos-pital worker. Spaziano’s fourth stay was granted in June, after Tony DiLi-sio, 37, of Pensacola told authori-ties in June his damning testi-mony against Spaziano 20 years ago was coerced by police. “He asked me to send his thanks and his love to Tony DiLisio,” Mello said. “Joe was very, very impressed and grateful that Tony had the guys to stick his neck out the way he did in this.” After an investigation, Gov. Law-ton Chiles rejected DiLisio’s claims and signed a new warrant, scheduling Spaziano’s execution for Sept. 21. But Tuesday the high court said a indefinite stay was required be-cause Mello has refused to cooper-ate – despite a court order – with a state agency ordered to investi-gate a new Spaziano appeal based on DiLisio’s recanted testimony. Mello refused to send his files to Capital Collateral Representative, a state agency that represents death row inmates. Tuesday’s ruling extended the deadline for the hearing to Nov. 15. In the ruling, the court said that decision by Mello indicated he [[Photo]] [caption] Associated Press. Michael Mello, above, has won a stay of execution for his client, Joseph Spaziano. [end caption] had effectively withdrawn as Spa-ziano’s attorney. The court said it was aware Spaziano is opposed to the agency being involved in his case. “Spaziano is faced with a choice,” the court wrote, saying it was up to him to be represented by CCR, a competent volunteer attorney, or no one. But Mello still considers himself Spaziano’s lawyer. “I do, and so does Joe, and so does his family,” Mello said. [[end article]] 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. Marshall, Alec 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 Florida Supreme Courts grants Spaziano a stay of execution Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Description An account of the resource This article is about a stay of execution granted by the Florida Supreme to Joe Spaziano after Michael Mello refused to send his paperwork to state lawyers. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Barnes, Brad Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Pensacola News Journal Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-09-13 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 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English capital punishment death penalty Death Row Florida Joe Spaziano Mello Michael A. Mello Spaziano https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/3a5287cf20717c54587836b10ad74eda.jpg 12c5941c423adc1931d98c5eb36d620d https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/18519869f743c4f0877868c3f56969bd.jpg ecfb72bbe9a3b86346f82ad2500e688d https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/28da140502431a1b0a0d9f43ec43d4cd.jpg 1f718541d36d51c7a27fee7160d475b4 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 Former Secretary of State Dean Rusk was on campus at Mary Washington College yesterday, fielding questions about United States foreign policy from students and professors, especially about the era of Vietnam when he played a key role. The visit opened a three-day stay for Rusk as Distinguished Visitor in Residence at MWC for 1977, climaxing Sunday evening with a major address by the former top statesman. In both a press session and an afternoon class meeting, Rusk faced dozens of student interrogators, most of them well-back-grounded, polite but persistent and frequently armed with written questions. While it wasn't a campus scene from the 60s, charged with the air of confrontation-a few students did appear timid in the face if the imperturbable Rusk-many of them took advantage of the chance to probe the mind of a man who had worked the levers of great powers. What they discovered was a sure-footed professor whose knowledge of foreign affairs was gained in eight rough years in the Washington pressure cooker and deepened by both distance and time since then. Defending without defensiveness, Rusk did not noticeably back away from crucial U.S. actions in Southeast Asia during is years as a key advisor, but he did tell one questioner that with the hindsight of 1977, some things might well have been done differently. A professor of international law these days at the University of Georgia, Rusk displayed ease, candor and authority in his remarks. "It's hard to do in cold blood what you may need hot blood for," he said of U.S. restraint in the conduct of the Vietnam conflict. On a personal note he told one student journalist that his greatest satisfaction form government service was his role in "adding eight more years to the time since a nuclear weapon has been used to kill someone," a point which he picked up later int he day with the comment: "War is the principal obscenity on the face of the human race; how we prevent it is the question." Conservatively attired in vested dark blue pin stripes, the statesman-turned-teacher appeared to be more at ease than his questioners in a meeting with journalists, most of whom were students. "You learn to say nothing at considerable length at a press conference," he cracked. In a more serious vein, Rusk said it will take another 15 to 20 years and a younger generation to place the Southeast Asian conflict in historical perspective. Facing a philosophy class following lunch, Rusk dealt with an hour's worth of queries concerning the role of morality in foreign policy. "If your decisions are going to be about people," he declared take them into account, you are not going to be dealing with the real world." Morality, he said, contrary to popular cynicism, figures in foreign policy decisions, but often by way of a foundation or background to events and actions. A history major dug into the morality of U.S. policy in the Vietnamese war, following through repeatedly when the Johnson administration advisor failed to concede weakness in that aspect of the national stance. In an hour of civilized but steady interrogation in the first of his classroom meetings with MWC students, Dean Rusk may have been ready oft the bell when it rang, but it didn't show. He rose from a plain wooden desk, got a solid round of applause and left-for more of the same at a class in comparative government. The former statesman is the seventh notable to visit the campus under the Distinguished Visitor in Residence program, which is sponsored by the college alumni association. Since its inception it has brought to the campus anthropologist Margaret Mead, social activist Saul Alinsky, historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., novelist Chaim Potok, choreographer Agnes deMille and columnist Frank Mankiewicz. 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 For Rusk, more queries on Vietnam Subject The topic of the resource Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Rusk, Dean Language A language of the resource English Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sullivan, Paul Description An account of the resource The visit of former Secretary of State Dean Rusk's visit to Mary Washington specifically talking at the Vietnam War. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Free Lance-Star 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 1977-11-12 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 3 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 Fredericksburg, VA Mary Washington College Vietnam War https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/3a502b6a9582075c770e9693f7982e29.jpg 2b2e5f59e7e7a61b38ad4333fe927ae2 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/b07d07a32dd8661ca851a4f3382ee04f.jpg d1df6368e5ef05fa0bc2b81f7c56d592 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/f75698f9988b27c9f76fd5bc8b1ece4b.jpg 3881fc1ce1f73a49e34e2018957b3c6f https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/e859c24de2d1d36b868601387eada714.jpg f7e3f9b9fd66915400e89790ba9ba663 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/9cd101d2e65558d11988ab6900bdec23.jpg 66edf801815c22203e81f6dfe8c5623c 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 Free Speech: Defense of an Enemy By: Michael Mello There is presently a case being litigated in Illinois that has raised one of the most basic issues in America: the right of an unpopular group to express its’ views openly. The American Nazi Party has been denied permission to stage a peaceful march in the Chicago suburb of Skokie; the case is all the more explosive because Skokie’s population is heavily Jewish and a significant number of residents are survivors of Hitler’s extermination camps. As a Jew who lost two aunts in the camps of Nazi Germany, I can understand and sympathize with the residents of Skokie; as a Jew I am shocked and revolted that there are still Nazis in 1977; as a Jew I might want to prevent Nazis from having their parade. But I am not only a Jew: I am also a citizen of the United States of America, a nation which exists by virtue of a constitution and a bill of rights. And as an American citizen, I must respect the fact that all of my fellow citizens share the same rights that I do; including freedom of speech, expression and peaceful assembly. When any group’s liberty is abridged, no one’s freedoms are safe; as Thomas Paine wrote 200 years ago, :he that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression, for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.” As should already be clear, the purpose of this article is not to argue the validity of Nazism as a social or political philosophy. Rather, I wish to argue the right of every person — including Nazis — to be heard within the established framework of debate. Of course, the Constitution already provides for this in the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people to peacefully assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” But this is an imperfect document (for example, it originally provided for slavery) and perhaps this concept of free expression is similarly invalid. So a defense of free speech is in order and in this defense I shall rely heavily on the philosophies of John Stuart Mill (as expressed in On Liberty) and Clarence Darrow (as expressed in his Autobiography.) The first problem with the suppression of opinions is a very pragmatic one; who shall decide which points are to be permitted and which suppressed? This is no enigma when the concept involved is as apparently as fallacious as Nazism. But what of evolutionism, trade unionism, women’s and black’s rights, all of which were originally suppressed? How does one judge the truth of an opinion? There are no universal standards: it is not given to man to be certain of the truth. It was once universally accepted that women lacked the mental capabilities of men; Christians were thrown to lions; Galileo was persecuted; Socrates was killed. This is all to say that the opinion being suppressed is not necessarily wrong. The shining example of this is the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, whose opinions so offended his contemporaries that he was put to death. Socrates was not killed by a lynch mob; he was condemned by a legal tribunal of his fellow citizens. Socrates, the wellspring of all subsequent teachers of virtue and ethical philosophy, from the lofty inspiration of Plato to the utilitarianism of Aristotle, was put to death for denying Gods recognized by his state and for “corrupting the youth” of Athens. This, the Master, the source of all eminent thinkers since born, was killed by this contemporaries for holding unpopular beliefs. It is perhaps obvious that “valid” opinions such as those held by Socrates ought not be suppressed, but what if the opinion is wholly false, as those of the Nazis seem to be? To this I would answer that the truth is strong enough to withstand the challenge of falsehood in the marketplace of ideas. It is better to have ideas debated and dissected in the forum of free discussion that to drive them underground and five them the attraction of forbidden fruit. To deny one group’s right to express its opinion is to admit the doubts one may have about the validity of one’s own beliefs. Free discussion is a central theme of democracy. Socrates and Hitler are extreme examples of truth and falsehood. But it is usually the case that an opinion contains some measure of both elements. It is only through the process of free debate that thrush has any chance of becoming known. Of course, it is not the passionate ideologue or dogmatist who benefits from the collision of opinions; rather, it is the “calmer and more disinterested bystander” who gains from free debate, for he is give the opportunity to listen to all arguments and make a personal decision. It has been argued (by Samuel Johnson and Lord Devlin, among others) that the persecution of the giver of truth is a necessary test of his sincerity. Devlin believes that “in a democratic society…there will be a strong tendency to yield — not abandon all defenses so as to let in the horde, but to give ground to those who are prepared to fight for something they prize. To fight may be to suffer. A willingness to suffer is the most convincing proof of sincerity. Without law there would be no proof. The law is the anvil on which the hammer strikes.” The first problem with this position has to do with fairness; is it fair to treat the givers of new truths as criminals; must we expect such people to be martyrs as well as great thinkers? Beyond abstract fairness, there is a strong reason for rejecting Devlin’s view” he makes the implicit assumption that truth inevitably triumphs over persecution. Is this assumption necessarily true? Mill thinks not” “Persecution has always succeeded save where the heretics were too strong a party to be effectively persecuted. No reasonable person can doubt that Christianity might have been extirpated from the Roman Empire. It spread, and became predominant, because the persecutions were only occasional, lasting but a short time, and separated by long intervals of almost undisturbed propagandism. “It is a piece of idle sentimentality that truth, merely as truth, has any inherent power denied to error of prevailing against the dungeon and the stake. Men are not more zealous for truth than they often are for error, and a sufficient application of legal penalties will generally succeed in stopping the propagation of either. The real advent age which truth has consists in the fact that when an opinion is true it may be extinguished once or twice or many times, but in the course of ages there will generally be found persons to rediscover it, until some one of its’ appearances falls on a time when from favorable circumstances it escapes persecution until has made such headway as to withstand all subsequent attempts to suppress it.” There is much support for this view in history, which is replete with examples of what we today call truth. Perhaps the best of these is the Protestant Reformation, which broke out and was successfully suppressed at least twenty times before Luther’s break with the established Church in the sixteenth century. There was Arnold of Brescia, Fra Dolcino Savoralrola, the Albigoeris, the Lollards, and the Hussites. As Mill put it, “History teems with instances of truth put down by persecution. If not suppressed forever, it may be thrown back for centuries.” There are those who would press individual liberty for the sake of a strong state. To them I would resound that a state is worth no more than the aggregate worth of the individuals that compose it. The concluding words of Mill’s On Liberty contain a message that is particularly timely in the second half of the twentieth century, when the double threat of devastating war and revolution on a world scale makes it increasingly difficult to preserve a libertarian temper in politics: “a state which dwarfs its’ men in oder that they may be more docile instruments in its’ hands for beneficial purposes will find that with such small men no great things can really be accomplished; and that the perfection of machinery to which it has sacrificed everything will in the end avail it nothing, for want of the vital power which in order that the machine might work smoothly, it has preferred to banish.” Which brings us back to the American Nazi Party and a simple economics cost-benefits analysis; the Nazis may be evil and their doctrines may be dangerous, but the suppression of their rights is even more dangerous to the basic tenets of democracy. The greatest harm of persecution is not done to those who are heretics, but rather to those who are not, because the mental development of the latter is stifled by the fear of being persecuted as a heretic. In an atmosphere of cowed conformity and slavish submission there may be a few exceptional great thinkers, but not an intellectually active people. We must keep the free marketplace of ideas open to everyone, for when we silence Nazis, it is but a small step until we persecute blacks or Jews; for the precedent has been established. This point was eloquently made by Martin Niemoeller, a Lutheran minister who was imprisoned in Theresienstadt concentration camp for his opposition to the government of Adolf Hitler. 76,000 people were murdered at Theresienstadt, including 15,000 children. When Niemoeller was liberated by the Allies in 1945, he was asked how the world let the actions of the Nazis take place. He responded, “In Germany,” the Nazis first came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t stand up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me." 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. 1, Issue 2. 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 Free Speech: Defense of an Enemy Subject The topic of the resource American Nazi Party -- History -- 20th century 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. “Free Speech: Defense of an Enemy.” Prometheus, October 17, 1977, 4,9,11-12. 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 1977-10-17 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Fredericksburg, VA Description An account of the resource Newspaper article by Michael A. Mello which addresses the Constitutional problems of a legal case involving the prohibition of American Nazis from organizing a demonstration. Mello defends the American Nazis right to assemble under the First Amendment. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 5 JPG 300 dpi American Nazis Constitution First Amendment Freedom of speech Michael Mello Right to Assembly https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/c977f03a78fa88ce28788f6b4996f4c0.jpg 631b8e7f3ca5fa37e76a7c755776de61 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 2, 1983-1994 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Vol. No./Issue No. Volume and issue number for the newspaper (if available) Florida Flambeau Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Goode, Claire Text Any textual data included in the document The attorney for two death row inmates just granted last-minute stays of execution says Florida may not be allowed to execute any more prisoners until the U.S. Supreme Court decides on a crucial legal issue now under consideration. Michael Mello, who defended both Paul Beasley Johnson and Edward Dean Kennedy for the state’s capital collateral appeals office, said most executions will be on hold until the court rules on the fairness of allowing prosecutors to dismiss jurors who express strong opposition to capital punishment. Several jurors were dismissed on those grounds in the trials of Johnson and Kennedy. Both Johnson and Kennedy had been scheduled for execution early today. Kennedy received a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, and Johnson received a stay from Florida’s highest court early Monday. In both cases, Mello based his appeal for stays on the fairness of the challenge law. “I’m absolutely ecstatic. I don’t see how they can kill anybody now, with these issues,” Mellow said. “What they’ve been doing nationally is granting stays in every case where this applies,” he said. “It’s evident to me the U.S. Supreme Court has decided no one is going to die until they settle this issue.” The case in question-Lockhart v. McCree- was argued before the court on Jan. 13, Mello said. The court does not have a set deadline on reaching a decision, he said, but is expected to rule before its current term ends on June 30. Johnson was sentenced to death for the January 1981 murders of William Evans, Darrell Ray Beasley and Deputy Sheriff Theron Burnham in Polk County. Court records state Johnson shot Evans twice and robbed him after the taxi driver picked him up outside a Winter Haven theater late at night on Jan. 8. 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 Future executions hinge on Supreme Court case Subject The topic of the resource Mello, Michael Death row Supreme Court decisions--United States 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 1986-02-04 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 Florida Description An account of the resource This newspaper clipping is an article detailing how the undecided nature of the Supreme Court case, Lockhart v. McCree, has allowed Mello to successfully appeal for stays of execution for two of his clients on death row. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Florida Flambeau Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource United Press International Death Row Edward Dean Kennedy Florida Death Row Lockhart v. McCree Michael A. Mello Paul Beasley Johnson Supreme Court https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/593a4c4bc779215f5f1aca2884c1cab6.jpg 0dc0012c2da665c3705ebc1e99e8c850 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/1fa7b10ab4ce972066150f7907be417d.jpg 1737e28adb9ee9519e893d4738358f8d 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 Gay Student Union at MWC For some obscure reason, a sizable number of MWC students cannot believe that a Gay Student Union exists on campus, (perhaps it would be more appropriate to say, rather that they don’t want to believe it). It is surprising that so many can expect the absolutely ridiculous—that Mary Washington, the world, would be relatively void of people with varying mindsets. It seems they seclude themselves voluntarily. It’s a weakness…a laziness, actually, to believe that everyone should be and is (unless obviously otherwise) absolutely the same. This sameness is referred to by many as “normality.” It strikes me as sad that so many invest so much of their faith in normality when so few of us fit exactly into that confining category. So, Mary Washington, the Gay Student Union does exist. We must come to grips with that fact that diversity lives (thank God) and is flourishing. The union sponsors parties, holds discussions, performs information services for the college population and the townspeople and offers support for the Mary Washington Gay Community. Happily, we have experienced little interference with our purpose or activities. We have, however, (not unlike the other organizations of diversity) been the victim of a major problem group on campus. If any of us are “trouble-makers,” these villains certainly are. The Hillel Club, the Afro-American Club, NORML, and we have all undergone suppression at the hands of the sign-ripper-downers. The Gay Student Union has recently been considering applying for Inter-Club Association approval. As the GSU has been in existence for 2 years, this possibility was seriously discussed with Debbie Love, Former ICA president, prior to the constitution controversy. Ironically, the first problem confronted in this process was with the required list of ten members by name. It has basically been decided to solicit names of uninvolved supporters rather than actual members, as few members can afford to bear the consequences of disclosure. The next GSU Party will be held on Saturday, February 11 at 8 pm. The address is 1104 William Street (Apt 812). Mandatory attendance for gays. Hall offenses will be given! 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. Humphries, Kim 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 Gay Student Union at MWC Subject The topic of the resource Gay rights Description An account of the resource An editorial about the Gay Student Union at Mary Washington College and the student body's reaction to it, arguing in support of the club. 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. "Gay Student Union at MWC." Prometheus (VA), 1977. 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 1977 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 400 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 gay rights LGBT support for gays https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/c5f84b16aaa2c120f2935bb028fd214e.jpg c35abf6b6e41b46c6b47389d451bf5ea https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/e21445019fa62d5279a8ae193d9d9655.jpg 2299f9d6fcf5e894f21cbc24d68fb100 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 Vol. No./Issue No. Volume and issue number for the newspaper (if available) Vol. 41/ No. 159 Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Mesa, Drew Text Any textual data included in the document NORTH HAVERHILL- Haile Selassie Girmay, an Ethiopian man accused of murdering two Dartmouth College graduate students last year, may use an insanity defense when his trial begins in February. But that defense likely would be affected by a ruling issued yesterday that Girmay's taped confession to police can be used as evidence at his trial. Grafton County Superior Court Judge Peter W. Smith ruled yesterday that the two-hour recorded interview- in which Girmay, 33, confesses to killing the women and states how and why he did it- is admissible, despite defense protests that he didn't understand his rights as a suspect. The ruling will certainly affect how each side presents its case, especially since Girmay indicates on the tape that he had doubts about killing the women. To prove insanity, a defendant must show that he was not in a state of mind to appreciate that what he was doing was criminal. "The most widely used test is the inability to distinguish right from wrong," said Michael Mello, a criminal-law professor at Vermont Law School. Selamawit Tsehaye, who had been engaged to marry Girmay, and Trhas Berhe, her roommate, were discovered dead from ax wounds in their Summer Street apartment in Hanover on June 17, 1991. Screams from the apartment had prompted neighbors to call police, and when officers arrived, Girmay answered the door. According to police testimony given during a recent court hearing, Girmay shook hands with police at the door and said, "I killed them. I killed them both. I killed them both with an ax." It was not that statement, though, that Girmay's lawyers wanted suppressed. Rather, it was what he said to police late that day that public defenders George Ostler and James Moir did not want the jury to hear. Girmay says in that interview that he bought the ax about three days before the women were killed. He says he bought it on a whim shortly after Tsehaye told him she did not want to marry him after all. And he says on the tape that on the morning of June 17, he hesitated, prayed and waited in the early morning hours before killing the two women. Girmay, a former geophysics graduate student at Uppsala University in Sweden, has been housed in the Secure Psychiatric Unit of the New Hampshire State Prison since June of this year- a year after the homicides. He has been undergoing treatment with psychotropic drugs. "He was transferred to the unit for treatment of paranoid delusions which manifested themselves while he was housed at the (Grafton) county jail," his lawyers stated in court records. Moir and Ostler also state in court records that they plan to pursue the insanity defense. Neither Girmay's lawyers nor Assistant New Hampshire Attorneys General Mark Zuckerman and John A. Stephen would discuss how the insanity defense will be affected by use of the taped confession. "It's an important piece of evidence that can be presented to the jury so they will get a complete picture as to what happened," was the only thing Zuckerman would say. Under New Hampshire law, an insanity defense is known as an "affirmative defense," meaning that the defense must establish by a preponderance of evidence that the defendant was insane. It means the defense will present its case first at the trial. Normally, it is up to the state to carry the burden of proof, and the prosecution's case comes first. But there are no set standards in New Hampshire for determining what constitutes a successful insanity defense. Lawyers preparing such a defense look to a 1985 state Supreme Court ruling that says the defense must prove that a defendant is mentally ill and the crime is a product of that illness. "It is often difficult to ascertain if an individual has a mental disease and whether an act was the product of that disease," the court wrote. In the taped interview, Girmay says he is not a man who is quick to anger. "Even if I am angry, I don't express emotionally in most cases," he told police, according to a transcript of the interview. The transcript was made public for the first time yesterday. But when New Hampshire State Police Cpl. Wayne Fortier asks Girmay if he was hurt by Tsehaye's rejection, Girmay replies: "Of course, I have to be hurt-- I have to be hurt-- because it's-- I have been too fond of her." Girmay says on the tape that he did not set out to but the ax, but was passing by a hardware store, and saw it displayed in the wind. " I didn't go buy the ax-- but I saw the ax-- and I bought it because I was angry," he says. "I was angry, and I wanted to use it." Later in the interview he tells the police that he didn't want to use it, he just wanted to "show her that if she can punish me for a lifetime -- I can punish her with this -- not to kill her -- but to show her -- that I have also the power." At one point Hanover Police Detective Nicholas Giaccone asks Girmay why he did it. " I don't know," Girmay replies. " I was -- maybe her words that drove me to such unconscious -- state on unconscious." Girmay also told the officers that he waited at the door of the women's bedroom with the ax in his hand and watched as they slept. He said he went into another room and prayed to God, to keep him from committing the "sin." But then he said he returned to their room. "She waked up and she say I love you Haile," Girmay says toward the end of the tape. "After I beat her -- so she called her brother's name and then she said Haile I love you. "But it was done," Girmay says. " It was too late for her to change." 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 Girmay Ruling May Affect Use Of Insanity Defense Subject The topic of the resource New Hampshire Courts Criminal courts--United States Description An account of the resource Haile Selassie Girmay is a man accused of murdering two Dartmouth College students. He may use insanity as a defense, but that defense may be impacted by a ruling from Judge Peter Smith. Smith found that Girmay's taped confession will be permissible in court. This is despite the fact that Girmay may not have understood his rights during his confession. The suspect's insanity defense may prove difficult because the tape indicates that Girmay had doubts about the killings. A successful insanity defense must prove that the defendant was not in a proper state of mind, which the tape undermines. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Strohmeyer, Sarah 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 1992-12-10 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 New Hampshire Criminal Court Michael A. Mello New Hampshire New Hampshire Supreme Court https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/cde32f925e100df75a79b269cf75b97a.jpg 1e8c32ae6106f889d7f67ad38b5d8abe 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 Valley News Sunday, August 10, 1997 Good Choices, Bad Process To the Editor: Your July 31 article “Dean’s Court Comments Draw Fire” might have had the unintended effect of leaving some readers with the mistaken impression that I oppose the governor’s two recent appointees to the Vermont Supreme Court. To the contrary, Gov. Dean, notwithstanding his naked attempts to stamp the court with his own ideological biases, made two superb picks for the court. To paraphrase Gov. Dean, my beef isn’t with the people he placed on the court. My beef is with the governor who put ‘em there. Specifically, my beef is with the governor’s use of an ideological litmus test – his questioning potential judicial nominees about how they would have decided particular constitutional law cases, the results of which Dean disagrees with – which is especially offensive to the basic idea that judges are supposed to approach each case with an open mind. And, in spite of Gov. Dean’s attempts to pack the Vermont Supreme Court with his ideological soul mates, my prediction is that both of Dean’s picks so far will be refreshingly free of ideological predispositions. Both have professional histories of fierce independence, thoughtfulness and courage. In light of Gov. Dean’s thuddingly predictable attacks on the independence of the Vermont judiciary, this last quality – courage – might in the long run become the most important. A final prediction: In 10 years, Gov. Dean will be as disenchanted with his Supreme Court picks as he is peeved at the present court. Supreme Court justices have a history of disappointing their executive patrons. President Eisenhower, for instance, called his appointment of William Brennan – perhaps the greatest jurist of this century, who was laid to rest just recently – the “biggest mistake” of his presidency. A decade from now, if anyone is still listening to Howard Dean’s ignorant broadsides on the Vermont judiciary, he will be griping about the decisions his appointees reach in individual cases. MICHAEL MELLO Professor of Law Vermont Law School 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. Jones, Margaret 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 Good Choices, Bad Process Subject The topic of the resource Vermont Supreme Court Description An account of the resource An opinion piece about the selection of justices for the Vermont Supreme Court in 1997. Mello describes why he thinks the governor was flawed in his process of choosing the justices for the Supreme Court. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Mello, Michael. "Good Choices, Bad Process." Valley News (Lebanon NH), August 10, 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 1997-08-10 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 Vermont https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/6c0592c73db8dee6f00712275d0d563b.jpg 2c031e0106e7cd4d88fd2ce60b52c7a3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gov. Chiles Halts Execution After Witness Recants Description An account of the resource Witness comes forward and claims the Florida Police feed him information while under hypnosis. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Booth, William Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Washington Post Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-06-16 Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Mello_76 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant FL Subject The topic of the resource Death penalty Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Washington Post Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 3, 1995 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Cusumano, Laura Text Any textual data included in the document Miami, June 16- The imminent execution of the killer they call “Crazy Joe” Spaziano, sentenced to death 20 years ago based on the testimony of a hypnotized witness, was halted by Gov. Lawton Chiles (D) this week after the crucial witness claimed he made up his testimony. The governor’s decision highlights the lingering legacy of cases in which “repressed memories” were unearthed by hypnotist and psychologist – a practice that is now widely criticized as too fallible to be used in courtrooms. The case, too has fueled debate over the death sentence. Joseph Spaziano’s case has been reviewed and upheld by the Florida Supreme Court and twice by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Stalled execution of Spaziano, who was convicted in 1975 of mutilating and murdering a young hospital worker two years earlier, has generated tremendous controversy because Spaziano was found guilty based largely on testimony of one man who – two decades later – claims that police and investigators “refreshed his drug-addled teenage memory with hypnosis and essentially planted details of a Spaziano confession in his mind. Tony Dilisio, now 37 and a self-described born-again Christian, told investigators with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement this week that his testimony years ago was essentially fabricated. [image - Joe Spaziano] [image caption - Florida governor will review the case of Joseph 'Crazy Joe' Spaziano.] The videotape of his session with FDLE officers was shown to Chiles and his attorneys. Chiles on Thursday halted the execution scheduled for June 27, and asked for further investigation. The governor has not granted clemency and Spaziano could eventually face the Electric chair for his murder of Laura Lyn Harberts. At Spaziano’s trial Dilisio, then a troubled teenager with a history of LSD and marijuana abuse, told the court that “Crazy Joe” of the Orlando Outlaws biker gang took him to a dump and pointed out the decomposing bodies of two women. “That’s my styles,” Spaziano boasted, according to Diliso’s testimony, pointing at of the women, her breast mutilated. But in an interview with the Miami Herald, Dilisio said: “I remember going there, but not with Joe Spaziano… The police took me.” He asked: “How do I know what I said back then was reliable? Especially if it came out under hypnosis.” Guided by hypnotist Joseph McCawley in 1975, Dilisio fingered Spaziano and later was the prosecution’s star witness. During a second session of hypnosis, McCawley said: “There are certain things bothering you in your subconscious mind. And you’re going to let these come out. You’re kind of purging your system.” When Dilisio remembered only one body at the dump, the hypnotist asked: “Is there another body, with this body that you’re looking [at]? Think this out. It will be easier later, Tony, much easier.” Testimony recounting so-called repressed memories generated by hypnosis has largely been discredited in recent years. The Florida Supreme Court ruled after Spaziano’s conviction that hypnotically induced testimony should be banned from criminal trials, but the ruling did not apply to earlier cases such as Spanziano’s. Spanziano’s attorneys have sought support from experts who decry the practice. In one letter to Spaziano’s lawyers, a trio of scholars, including Richard Ofshe, a University of California sociologist, write: “Mr. Diliso’s testimony was utterly worthless, at best, and more likely dangerously mistaken.” The campaign to save Spaziano from the electric chair was initiated by his attorney, Michael Mello, now a professor at Vermont Law School. In editorial page articles that ran in several Florida newspapers, Mello wrote, “Mr. Spaziano is, I believe in my bone marrow, innocent. This fact makes him unique among my death row clients. When I was a Florida public defender, my caseload was 35 condemned men; in all, I have been closely involved in about 70.” Mello wrote that Spaziano’s jury recommended against the death penalty, mostly because of nagging doubts about his guilt. Yet because Spaziano was a drug abuser and member of the Outlaws biker gang, jurors did not want to see him on the loose. The judge disregarded the recommendation and ordered death. According to Mello, “Crazy Joe” got his nickname for good cause. “You see, Mr. Spaziano is crazy, That’s the truth. It’s a truth that shames and humiliates himself in his eyes.” Spaziano suffered a severe head injury after being run over by an automobile in 1966. At the trial, he had trouble recalling day-to-day details of what he did in 1973. After Chiles and his investigators review the case, they can take several actions, ranging from signing a fifth death warrant to pardoning Spaziano. Even if Spaziano is pardoned for killing of Harberts, he would continue to serve a life sentence for an unrelated rape and mutilation of a 16-year-old girl. Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gov. Chiles Halts Execution After Witness Recants Subject The topic of the resource Death penalty Description An account of the resource Witness claims Florida police planted story in his head using hypnosis. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Booth, William Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Washington Post Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-06-16 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida "Crazy Joe" Spaziano Florida Supreme Court Gov. Lawton Chiles Joseph Spaziano Laura Lyn Harberts Michael A. Mello Richard Ofshe Tony Dilisio US Supreme Court https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/b601b5abc245366976383213c71e6251.jpg ed4d5c1d0b0224cadd80de606b5df972 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/98035e18bb07a601bc72b80256cf124b.jpg f7d7a5f70976067084c001ff0d21bfff Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 3, 1995 Text Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Libka, Darby Text Any textual data included in the document ORLANDO - As his attorney makes a plea for clemency, investigators with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are deepening their investigation into the 22-year-old murder case against condemned pris-oner Joseph “Crazy Joe” Spaziano. Gov. Lawton Chiles is being asked to absolve Spaziano of the charges that have kept him on Death Row since 1976. The former motorcycle gang leader was scheduled to be executed Tuesday, but Chiles granted an indefinite stay June 15 after the state’s main witness recanted key testimony. That witness, Anthony Dilisio of Pensacola, now says that what he testified two decades ago wasn’t true. He said he was coerced by the police- and his father- to make damning statements against Spaziano. Dilisio told The Herald this week that his memory is clearer about the time in his life when, as a teenager, he was the star witness in a sensational murder trial and a rape trial. He has offered to take a lie detector test, but the FDLE, which had scheduled one two weeks ago, has not contacted him since. Police and Dilisio said it was his father, Ralph Dilisio, who told investigators in 1974 to question him about the so-called “Garbage Dump Murders” involving five bodies found around a rural dumping ground near Orlando. Spaziano was having an affair with Dilisio’s step-mother, and Ralph Dilisio told police Spaziano has raped the woman. Ralph Dilisio who died in 1991, had told friends in the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office that Spaziano had bragged to him and his son about raping and mutilating women in the Orlando area. Police found the young Dilisio at a Key witness says his dad had grudge drug rehabilitation center. “I can now remember the room, the people. I can draw you a picture of it,” said Dilisio, who said that for 20 years he has erased from his mind his troubled teenage years. “My dad was out to get Joe because of my stepmother,” Dilisio said. “I remember the police told me my dad said this, and my dad said that, and was it true? He was the first one to tell me about it.” Officers had Dilisio, then 16, hypnotized him to help him remember details that said he’d suppressed because the memories were so traumatic. Under hypnosis, Dilisio told a macabre tale of Spaziano taking him out to a dump two years earlier and showing him two women’s bodies. One body was that of Orlando hospital clerk Laura Lynn Harberts, 18. The other was never identified. “I can remember them telling me how important this case is,” Dilisio said. In a 1974 rape trial in which Spaziano was convicted and sentenced to life, and in the 1976 murder trial in which he was convicted and sentenced to death, Dilisio was the key witness. He testified that Spaziano not only bragged about raping and killing women, but showed him the two bodies at the dump. Dilisio, now a lay preacher and auto restorer, now says it was all a fantasy. He said the first time he saw the dump was when police took him there, and he never saw any bodies. “That’s a bunch of crap,” he said. He said he doesn’t know whether Spaziano is guilty or innocent, but only that his trial testimony was unreliable. He said nobody threatened or coerced him to make the statements he’s now making. FDLE investigators videotaped an interview with Dilisio two weeks ago, which hasn’t been made public. “He told them he never went to the dump with Spaziano,” said Dilisio’s attorney, Kelly McGraw, who sat in on the interview with FDLE agents. “I don’t see how they can say that’s not a change.” Spaziano’s attorney, Vermont law school Professor Michael Mello, said he’s looking forward to reviewing the FDLE report, although investigators say it won’t be presented to the gover-nor any time soon. “My concern is that FDLE is picking back over case files and information that was so useless and unreliable that even a gung-ho prosecutor who was out the nail the president of the Orlando chapter of the Outlaws didn’t see fit to even try to get into evidence.” Mello sent a new clemency plea to Chiles this week, asking him to free Spaziano because the rape and murder cases against him were fraught with errors and were based largely on Dilisio’s now-questionable testimony. But investigators say they’re sure they got the right man all those years ago. “Everybody was solidly convinced,” said retired Seminole County sheriff’s officer Ray Parker, who now reviews old cases from the department. “There’s not a doubt in the world he did it.” 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 Governor asked to free 'Crazy Joe' Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Testimony Chiles, Lawton, 1930-1998 Description An account of the resource This is an article describing the admittance that a testimony previously given in trial of Joe Spaziano was false. Spaziano's lawyer Michael Mello has asked the governor to free Spaziano, while the police are certain that Spaziano is still the culprit. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rozsa, Lori Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Herald Section B, 5B Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-06-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 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 FL "Crazy Joe" Spaziano Anthony Dilisio attorney Florida Florida Death Row Lawton Chiles Michael A. Mello murder Ralph Dilisio rape testimony witness https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/66dd7b953a380a2897d29618f4958aa1.jpg 8372335b3a1c0ed8cb8254edbf057609 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 3, 1995 Text Text Any textual data included in the document TALLAHASSEE- After a two-month investigation, Gov. Lawton Chiles had no doubts Thursday in signing another death warrant for Joseph “Crazy Joe” Spaziano, condemned for a mutilation-murder 22 years ago. Spaziano, 49, had been scheduled to die in Florida’s electric chair in late June, but the governor canceled the execution after media reports raised questions about the case. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been investigating since then. “This exhaustive review removes any doubt in my mind about this case,” Chiles said in a statement released by his office. The FDLE report backs up the conclusion of every court that ever heard the case, Chiles said. “Joseph Spaziano has received due process, and justice demands that he now face the consequences for the crimes he has committed,” Chiles said. The warrant is in effect from noon Sept. 19 through noon Sept. 26. The execution has been scheduled for 7 a.m. Sept. 21 at Florida State Prison near Starke. A Vermont law professor who represents Spaziano said he spoke with his client after learning about the warrant. “He’s terrified. He’s angry,” said Michael Mello of Wilder, Vt. “He asked me, ‘What should I be doing now?’ I said, ‘You and your family need to be preparing for your death.’” Mello called the FDLE investigation a wash. Spaziano was serving a life prison term for an unrelated rape conviction in 1975 when he was charged with the murder of Laura Lynn Haberts, whose sexually mutilated body had been found in a trash dump near Altamonte Springs on August 22, 1973. Another decomposed body was found in the dump, but it has ever been identified, and Spaziano faced no charges in that case. A jury convicted Spaziano of Haberts’ murder only after twice telling the judge they couldn’t reach a verdict. The jury voted 9-3 for life imprisonment, but Circuit Judge Robert McGregor sentenced Spaziano to death. One of the jurors said the panel favored the life sentence because of doubts about Spaziano’s guilt. The jury wasn’t told about Spaziano’s rape conviction. Three Florida governors have signed death warrants for Spaziano. 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. Bishop, Michelle 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 Governor signs another death warrant for Spaziano Subject The topic of the resource Capitol punishment Chiles, Lawton, 1930-1998 Description An account of the resource Joseph Spaziano is served another death warrant despite doubts about his guilt Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The Associated Press Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived "Governor Signs Another Death Warrant for Spaziano." 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 1995-08-25 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 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 Tallahassee, Fl https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/5b03081c77576e986379a740eb8e19cc.jpg 75420f5b5334936911d250f3cf0cf3a9 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 Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Stewart, James Text Any textual data included in the document The Florida Flambeau is published by the Florida Flambeau Foundation, Inc., an independent, non-profit corporation which is solely responsible for the contents of the paper. Florida Flambeau Foundation, Inc., Newsroom, 505 S. Woodward Avenue, phone 681-6695; Mailing address, P.O. Box 20287, Tallahassee, Florida, 32316. Eileen M. Drennen.............Editor Moni Basu..........Editor Designate Joe Pankowski, Jr....Sports Editor Rodney Campbell..Ast. Sports Ed. J.L. Branch..............Arts Editor B.G. Dilworth...Asst. Arts Editor Deborah Thomas..............Photo Editor Staff: Kathy Armistead, Pete Butler, John Dixon, G. Alan Fineout, Linda Hall, Ted Hardin, Steve Johnson, John Lowndes, Jack McCarthy, Mia Lucas, Mike Odgen, Bill Otersen, D.K. Roberts, Jeffrey Romance, Barrington Salmon, Mark Stevens, Mark Sullivan, Maria Telli, Don Watz, Nancy Wonder, Linda Young Words can come back to haunt you. Listen to Gov. Bob Graham at the dedication of the Viet Nam War Memorial in Nov. 11, 1985. He mourns the 386,000 Floridians who gave their lives in service to their country during the Viet Nam War, and recognizes how the experience "marked" the lives of those who didn't lose their lives there: "Today we take a giant step in the healing process. . . We say to all who served, welcome home—and we express our heart-felt gratitude for your bravery and spirit of sacrifice. . . We who live in freedom salute you, as we commemorate those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Your actions speak more eloquently than our words, even a decade or more later...Many have fought to overcome the physical as well as the spiritual effects of that conflict. The contributions the Viet Nam veterans are making today is powerful testimony to their character, and to their talent." Listen to Graham defending his decision to ignore the last wish of an ex-Marine—one of those Florida veterans he's so proud of. The vet is the first ever to face the electric chair in America, and is compelling evidence of how the war and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder turned him into a broken heroin addict, sending him ever downward, until he kills two people in a Jacksonville bar and winds up on Death Row. Listen to Graham tell the man, as he told us at the dedication ceremony last year, that time has opened the eyes of the American public to the ultimate sacrifice he and all veterans made for us, and how anxious we are to try and pay them back: Sure, PTSD is a problem—but he had his chance at raising the issue before the court already, and there is no reason to bring it up again. But, David Livingston Funchess' claims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder were never heard by the jury that convicted him of murder. His friends and family from Jacksonville, who saw him come back from the war a stranger, were never given the opportunity to tell the court what they knew. No one cared then; no one cares now. Least of all the man who claimed to honor this veteran, but turned a deaf ear to his last request on this earth. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper 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 Graham's gratitude Description An account of the resource An article about Florida Gov. Bob Graham's speech at the dedication of the Vietnam memorial and how Graham ignored the last wishes of David Livingston Funchess, a veteran convicted to the electric chair. 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 1983-04-23 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. 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, United States Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Florida Flambeau Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Subject The topic of the resource Post-traumatic stress disorder Graham, Bob 1936- Veterans--Vietnam Death Row electric chair Florida Florida veterans Vietnam veterans