1 20 256 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/402cd23a1f4646ac3b74a24f69647409.jpg b4addf861b8d243cc51e29416b391647 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [Title] Library offers Unabomber’s papers [Subtitle] But manifesto not part of collection [Authors] By Kevin Johnson [Roles] USA Today Staff Writer ANN ARBOR, Mich. — They come to a University of Michigan library here from across the USA: scholars, political theorists, lawyers and prospective authors, all seeking some meaning in the rantings of the Montana recluse whose letter bombs once terrorized a nation. It’s an academic exercise that could be called Unabomber 101. Their focus is an obscure collection called the Ted Kaczynski Papers, which includes letters, legal documents and homemade greeting cards the convicted killer has donated to the university at the behest of a persistent curator. Visitors to the ever-expanding collection of Kaczynski writings at the university’s Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library won’t find his most famous work: the rambling discourse blasting technology as a threat to nature and individual dignity that is known as the “Unabomber Manifesto.” Instead, the Kaczynski collection, held in acid-free boxes, is dominated by correspondence with pen pals on subjects ranging from philosophy to the best ways to fertilize beets. The collection has attracted scholars across the nation, many of whom say they want insight into what they view as a man with a brilliant mind who went horribly astray. Some academics, whether interested in Kaczynski’s views on technology or lessons learned from his legal case, have come to derive lessons from the material. Professor Michael Mello of Vermont Law School is among those examining the documents as part of legal and ethical discussions surrounding Kaczynski’s trial and appeals. The article also discusses debate among academics over the value of studying Kaczynski’s writings, with some emphasizing their intellectual content and others stressing that his violent actions outweigh any scholarly significance. Curator Julie Herrada explains that the collection has potential value for studying political imprisonment, mental health, and environmental thought. The materials continue to arrive from Kaczynski’s prison in Colorado. 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. Briones-Sosa, Marcus Roldan 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 Library offers Unabomber’s papers Subject The topic of the resource Unabomber; Theodore Kaczynski; University of Michigan; Criminal justice; Domestic terrorism; Archival collections Description An account of the resource This newspaper article reports on the University of Michigan’s acquisition of papers belonging to Theodore “Unabomber” Kaczynski. Donated while Kaczynski was serving a life sentence in prison, the collection includes letters, legal documents, and personal writings, but notably excludes his infamous manifesto. The article explains how scholars, lawyers, and academics are using the materials to study Kaczynski’s ideas, legal arguments, and psychological state. It also highlights debate surrounding the academic value of the collection, questions of morality, and the challenges of interpreting the writings of a convicted domestic terrorist. Additionally, the piece discusses Kaczynski’s background, his legal appeals, and the role of the university curator in securing the donation. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Johnson, Kevin Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived USA Today Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 299, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2001-02-20 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 dpi Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://hist299.umwhistory.org/items/show/355 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Michigan, United States https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/c5e92d263b6c4c369bf853e9c6b7b8e3.jpg dd5fcff14847cb4f6ea335d786cc944e Text Text Any textual data included in the document SAN FRANCISCO - Convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski says he was coerced into pleading guilty to three murders and wants a federal appeals court to allow a trial, which could end in a death sentence. The guilty pleas “were induced by the threat of a mental-state defense that Kaczynski would have found unendurable, as well as by deprivation of constitutional rights,” such as the right to control his own defence and represent himself, he wrote. In a 58-page, handwritten brief, composed in a maximum-security federal prison in Colorado, Kaczynski asked the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals to be allowed to withdraw his guilty pleas and go to trial. As an alternative, he requested a new US District Court hearing, before a different judge, on whether his rights were violated when his lawyers insisted on using a defense based on his mental condition. “Kaczynski’s counsel’s portrayal of him as a grotesque lunatic would have been broadcast nationwide, and this was a prospect that anyone might have found unendurable. Suicide to avoid public humiliation is by no means unknown,” wrote Kaczynski, who attempted suicide in jail after his lawyers told him of their plans. His brief was due yesterday but was filed Dec. 28. The document delves into complex constitutional arguments, abounds with legal citations, and refers to the defendant as “Kaczynski” and to the writer as “we.” Kaczynski, a Harvard-trained mathematician who became a forest recluse living in Montana, pleaded guilty in January 1998 to mail bombings that killed three people and injured 23. Two deaths occurred in Sacramento and the third was in New Jersey. His guilty plea came after the US District Judge Garland Burrell of Sacramento refused to let him represent himself or delay the trial to let Kaczynski get a lawyer who would present a defense based on his views about technology and the environment. Kaczynski began the appeal shortly after he pleaded guilty. The appeals court allowed Kaczynski to reopen the case in October, ruling that he had made a substantial showing that his rights were violated when he was denied the right to represent himself or prevent his lawyers from offering evidence about his mental condition. After further arguments, the three-judge appellate panel will decide whether to let the case go to trial. Assistant US Attorney Steve Lapham, the government’s lawyer, declined comment. The Justice Department initially sought a death sentence for Kaczynski but accepted a life sentence after a court-ordered psychiatric examination, conducted over his objections, concluded he was a paranoid schizophrenic. Kaczynski’s writings have connected the attacks to his campaign against technological tyranny. Michael Mello, a Vermont Law School professor who has written a book on the case and helped Kaczynski with an earlier legal filing, said yesterday he thought Kaczynski could represent himself adequately. Description: Convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski files a handwritten appeal asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court to let him withdraw his 1998 guilty pleas, claiming they were coerced by the threat of a mental-defense strategy and denial of his right to represent himself. He seeks a new trial that could result in the death penalty. Title: Kaczynski, in brief, says he wants trial Subject: Theodore Kaczynski, Unabomber, guilty plea withdrawal, 9th Circuit appeal, self-representation, mental health defense Creator: Bob Egelko Source: The Boston Globe, Associated Press (AP) Date: Jan. 19, 2000 Format: JPG Identifier: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jan-19-mn-55403-story.html Coverage: ​​ 1998/2000 ; San Francisco, California, United States ; 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Original Format: Strip of newspaper taken from The Boston Globe Notes: This piece was written by Bob Egelko, published by Associated Press (AP) and was featured in The Boston Globe. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Strip of newspaper taken from The Boston Globe Vol. No./Issue No. Volume and issue number for the newspaper (if available) N/A Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. N/A Notes Additional information regarding your item. This content will not be viewable in the Public View. This piece was written by Bob Egelko, published by Associated Press (AP), and was featured in The Boston Globe. Student Editor of the Digital Item Cole Cox Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Kaczynski, in brief, says he wants trial Subject The topic of the resource Theodore Kaczynski, Unabomber, guilty plea withdrawal, 9th Circuit appeal, self-representation, mental health defense Description An account of the resource Convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski files a handwritten appeal asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court to let him withdraw his 1998 guilty pleas, claiming they were coerced by the threat of a mental-defense strategy and denial of his right to represent himself. He seeks a new trial that could result in the death penalty. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Egelko, Bob Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Boston Globe, Associated Press (AP) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 299, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Jan. 19, 2000 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource .jpg Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jan-19-mn-55403-story.html Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1998/2000 ; San Francisco, California, United States ; 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Circuit court Kaczynski Michael Mello retrial Theodore Kaczynski trial Unabomber https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/45b3af43beccbe1e4a864a352345d414.jpg e745a14aee0b1cc9da3ffa8a465bdafb Text Text Any textual data included in the document Theodore Kaczynski was improperly denied his day in court argues a Vermont law professor who won Kaczynski's cooperation to write a book about his case. “I do not believe that Theodore Kaczynski was a paranoid schizophrenic” as his lawyers claimed, Vermont Law School professor Michael Mello said in a talk Wednesday at the law school. Mello has exchanged letters for about a year with the Unabomber, who is at a federal “supermax” prison in Colorado. Mello argues in his recently published, critically acclaimed book, “U.S.A. v. Theodore John Kaczynski: Ethics, Power and the Invention of the Unabomber,” that it was wrong to box Kaczynski into entering a guilty plea – even though [Picture of Michael Mello] letting him go to trial almost certainly would have ended in his execution for the murders of three people and maimings of 23 others with mail bombs. Mello said the case had raised “some of the most basic questions about the nature of attorney-client relationship in capital cases.” As Mello put them: [Black Square] “Should court-appointed lawyers be allowed to force a mental illness defense upon a client who specifically and emphatically rejects it, and who is mentally competent to stand trial?” Mello argued New York subway gunman Colin Ferguson was far more mentally ill than Kaczynski, but was allowed to stand trial. [Black Square] “Can a mentally competent, citizen-accused be denied the right to self-representation?” U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. turned down Kaczynski’s request that he be allowed to dismiss his lawyers and represent himself. When one man in the audience, who identified himself as a physician, argued Kaczynski was a paranoid schizophrenic, Mello replied that a major part of the definition of that psychiatric disease is that the patient must be delusional. “Where’s the delusion?” he asked. Mello argued Kaczynski was evil, but that he had rationally calculated that his threat to send more deadly mail bombs would get his 35,000-word manifesto published in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Clip Student Editor of the Digital Item William Goodman Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lawyer: Kaczynski Wronged Subject The topic of the resource Kaczynski, Theodore John, 1942-2023 -- Trials, litigation, etc Mello, Michael -- Authorship Description An account of the resource David Gram of the Associated Press writes about Michael Mello's argument that the Unabomber should be allowed to represent himself. Mello disagrees with the state's decision to declare Kaczynski a paranoid schizophrenic despite Kaczynski's emphatic rejection of the label. Mello further argues that Kaczynski was evil, but not delusional as it took careful planning to execute his attacks. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gram, David Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Associated Press Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 299, University of Mary Washington Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant South Royalton, VT Mello Michael Mello Ted Kaczynski Unabomber https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/c741f4af0224316e5c04754e2ca8ba1e.jpg eef15b0fd5e771f37887422003785bdc https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/8210afd7c644b5998e95f7e31646ddd5.jpg 0acf0e1371882df6b10aa4b3e8b2c79c 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. Lauer, Payton Text Any textual data included in the document [Start Page] [Header] Region/State Rutland Daily Herald Saturday, December 4, 1999 Windsor, Windham & Benn [Title] Young arms of the law [Sub-title] Mock ‘arrest’ gives students lesson in Fourth Amendment By MELISSA MACKENZIE Herald Correspondent [Text] SOUTH ROYALTON – Vermont Law School pro-fessor Michael Mello was giving a speech on the Fourth Amendment Friday when an armed police officer paused outside one of the glass doors leading into the room. The officer, state Trooper Paul Gauthier, stared hard at Mello, who abruptly stopped lecturing, announced his time was up and stuffed his papers into his brief-case. Mello looked distracted, flustered. He swore and hurried in the opposite direction. Gauthier, meanwhile, opened the door, crossed the meeting hall, apprehended Mello and frisked him. He also searched Mello’s briefcase, in which he found a gun. Then he took Mello away. When Mello reappeared a few minutes later “free on bail,” however, it was clear he hadn’t really been arrested. The act was just a demonstration about the Fourth Amendment, which deals with the right of individuals to be free from “unreasonable” searches and seizures, for more than 75 junior high and high school students from around the state who attended the fifth annual Youth for Justice Summit at Vermont Law School. But the conference, a day-long event that aims to pro-mote the importance of legal education and responsibility (See Page 13:Law) [Image- three students listening to Michael Mello’s Speech] [Image Caption- Photo by Melissa MacKenzie] [Image Caption- Students listen to Vermont Law School professor Michael Mello speak Friday during the fifth annual Youth for Justice Summit at the school in South Royalton.] [End Page] [Start Page] [Heading-Law] [Sub-heading- Continued from Page 11] [Text] among teens, gave students more than lectures about the issue – it gave them a live performance. After Mello returned, law students argued the pros and cons of whether Mello was guilty. Then, with the help of students, the “case” was taken step by step all the way to the Supreme Court. Donning impressive black robes trimmed with black velvet, Mello, as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Rhenquist, and five seventh-graders from St. Albans City and Milton, as associate justices, began the trial of “former professor Mello.” The young justices took on the lawyers toe to toe on whether the police had any right to search Mello. Questions like “why did the officer enter this room in the first place?” and “the professor left in a hurry because of shock! How do you know he was engaged in suspicious active-ity? He was done with his speech. He was leaving! It is a crime to hurry from the room?” and “did the officer have a warrant to search the brief-case?” and the answers given by law students and Mello educated and engaged the entire audience. Later, as the several “lawyers” spoke, the “justices” had to consider the matter from the point of view of the police officer. The session, which was based on a case presently before the U.S. Supreme Court, Illinois vs. Wardlow, was the fifth in a series of legal dis-cussions held at the Youth Summit. Other sessions explored the legali-ties of school rules, discipline and expulsion, curfew laws, property rights, and rescue and first aid issues in Vermont. Founded in Bellows Falls in 1994 by retired Bellows Falls Union High School principal Harry (“Bud”) Weiser, the Youth for Justice Summit pro-gram in Vermont that is recognized by the American Bar Association. Topics addressed in previous years included prison life, Internet crime, environmental pollution and drug enforcement. School or Individuals who wish to purchase a videotape of Friday’s events can call Eric Columber of the Vermont Law School Legal Education and Empowerment Project at 763-3021. [End Page] 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 Young arms of the law Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 299, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-12-04 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 Description An account of the resource Professor Micheal Mello gave a speech regarding the Fourth Amendment for High School students at the Youth for Justice Summit at Vermont Law School. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mackenize, Melissa Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant (Royalton, VT) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGS 300 DPI Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Mackenzie, Melissa. "Young arms of the law." Rutland Daily Herald. December 4, 1999. Subject The topic of the resource United States. Constitution. 4th Amendment Mello, Michael Vermont Law School Youth for Justice Summit Gun Control Michael Mello https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/c27f079ec679f973dcb5e76efb5469b3.jpg cea8aac56ade6d68632806af385a2f6a https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/79471df0b1d314cf6fb13e13b61ea286.jpg 7aef70ef80901ac8ef7ba9bd64ad3ac0 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) vol. 46, issue 304 Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Hiznay, Max Text Any textual data included in the document MONTPELIER -- One man killed a feder-al prison guard in Atlanta. Another kidnapped a young girl in Texas and killed her in Arkansas. There are a handful of drug killers And then there is Timothy McVeigh, the man convicted of the Oklahoma City bombing. What all the cases have in common is the defendants have all been ordered executed by the federal government. The U.S. government hasn't put anyone to death in almost 35 years and no execution date has been set in any of the pending cases. And none of the 15 men now facing federal execution committed crimes in states that didn't have their own death penalties. Nevertheless, the case of Chris Dean, the Indiana man accused of sending a pipe bomb to Vermont last month that killed a Fair Haven teenager, could be added to that list. Vermont doesn't have a death penalty law and is unlikely to get one at any time soon. But, because Dean is accused of a capital crime under federal law, the state's opinion on the death penalty doesn't matter. The crime Dean is charged with, "trans-porting in interstate commerce an explosive device with intent that it would be used to kill or injure and death resulting," carries the possible death penalty. It's only the beginning, and a lot has to happen before Attorney General Janet Reno decides whether or not to seek the death penalty against Dean. But no one involved in the case can forget. "It changes everything. It absolutely changes everything," said Michael Mello, a professor at Vermont Law School who worked for years in Florida on death penalty cases and has written two books on the subject. "What it should bring is a sense of terror for defense attorneys, prosecutors and the judge." Those differences are already evident in the Dean case. Instead of having one court-appointed lawyer, he has two. The prosecu-tors used the possible death penalty to get 60 extra days to seek an indictment from a grand jury. {end page} [start page] And when Dean first appeared in court Friday, U.S. District Court Judge William Sessions III started at square one, reading the 35-year-old truck driver from Pierceton, Ind., his rights. Dean is charged with sending the pipe bomb to 17-year-old Christopher Marquis to avenge a CB radio deal gone bad after it was arranged via the Internet. Marquis' mother was seriously injured in the blast. Dean appeared in court yesterday and was ordered held without bail pending trial. Student Editor of the Digital Item Hiznay, Max 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 Possible Death Penalty Affects Approaches to Bomb Trial 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 Ring, Wilson Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 299, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1998-04-09 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Valley News Subject The topic of the resource Mello, Michael <br />___________________________<br /><br />Capital punishment--United States Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 DPI Description An account of the resource A recent bombing done by an Indiana man killed one and injured another Vermont resident. The perpetrator Chris Dean is being held without bond and is subject to Federal laws surrounding the death penalty. This has ignited a debate in Vermont as the state has no death penalty. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Ring, Wilson. “Possible Death Penalty Affects Approaches To Bomb Trial.” Valley News Vol 46 No. 304. (Montpelier, VT). April 9, 1998. 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 bombing court case death penalty https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/57412098c86208e6d611777a1fbb729a.jpg ef7ee0b1bdee20dc67dcb46a967776d7 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/cd22a5768e3a2a0fa8f9d5395872381e.jpg ebfc4ef74ccda56bceb7103d0cfed1fd Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 5 Text Text Any textual data included in the document MONTPELIER - For the first time, Gov. Howard Dean has publicly voiced his support for the death penalty. After debating the issue for years, Dean said Wednesday, "I do think the death penalty is appropriate for certain.... (crimes), such as the murder of children and the killing of police officers in the line of duty." Dean has previously opposed capital punishment. The governor, who is also a medical doctor, was asked at his weekly news conference if his view conflicted with the physicians' pledge to "do no harm." He replied: " 'Do no harm' also, I think, pertains to letting people out of jail ... who would be a terrible harm to innocent people." Despite his statement of support, Dean said not to expect him to push lawmakers to revive the death penalty in Vermont. For one thing, he said, he doesn't think the Legislature would endorse it. He's probably right about that, said one legislator who has tried for years to dell the idea inside the Statehouse. While Rep. Nancy Sheltra, R-Derby, welcomed Dean's support, she wondered if it was a "political ploy." Dean has been traveling the country in recent months, prompting speculation that he might run for president in 2000. Sheltra wonders whether he's simply trying to win over death penalty supporters in other states. See DEAN, 12A [end page] [start page] [image] [image caption] Vermont hasn't used the electric chair since 1954. [end page] [start page] DEAN: Governor switches death-penalty stance Continued from Page 1A "It's very easy to make a political stand like that when you know you don't have to deal with it here," she said. "If you really believe in something, you're out there working for it." Vermont has executed 26 people, the last one in 1954, according to state archives. Most were hanged; five died in the electric chair, which is mothballed in a basement near Dean's office--with, according to one account, "its arms still bearing the scratch marks of dying men." Vermont abolished the penalty for most offenses in 1965. In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down nationwide as unconstitutional. After the high court opened the door again four years later, 38 states brought the penalty back. Vermont was not among them. Vermont Law School Professor Michael Mello says Dean should think twice about joining a troubled club. "This is a very dangerous road for him to be leading Vermont down," Mello said. "It's a myth to think that the death penalty will only be reserved for the worst of the worst." [large font] "Death row isn't populated by the people who committed the worst crimes; death row is populated by the people who had the worst lawyers." Michael Mello, Vermont Law School professor Mello speaks from experience as a lawyer defending death row inmates in the South. He recently helped win a new trial for Florida man, Joseph Spaziano, who was about to be executed when new information surfaced to bolster his claim of innocence. Death penalty in Vermont HANGING: Between 1788 and 1912, 21 people were hanged, two of them women. ELECTRIC CHAIR: Between 1912 and 1954, five people were executed in the electric chair. Source: Vermont Secretary of State's Office "Death row isn't populated by the people who committed the worst crimes; death row is populated by the people who had the worst lawyers," Mello said. In states with the death penalty, he said, innocent people inevitably die. Dean said he changed his mind based on "heinous" crimes, including the 1993 murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas in California. Closer to home, he cited the murder of Paulette Crickmore, a Richmond girl who disappeared on her way to school in 1986 and was found murdered. He denied trying to score national political points, saying that Klaas case began the "evolution" of his thinking. "Certainly nobody could have even thought about... (a presidential bid) in 1993." Nor, he said, would he argue that capital punishment would prevent the "heinous" murderers he would like to punish. "If I thought the death penalty was going to stop the next depraved murder that might occur in Vermont, I would asked the Legislature to enact it," he said. "I truly don't believe it's a deterrent." Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Chiarello, Frances Student Editor of the Digital Item Van Doren, Jamie Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dean supports death penalty Subject The topic of the resource Death penalty Description An account of the resource The Governor spoke about his position on the death penalty and the appropriate usage of the death penalty for the state of Vermont. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Good, Jeffrey Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Good, Jeffrey. "Dean supports death penalty; Governor changes position on 'heinous' crimes." Burlington Free Press, October 23, 1997. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-10-23 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Vermont death penalty Michael A. Mello https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/58d42ff4b4de2878d2cbe3356569c5fb.jpg 6324877d4d0d57fec02941fa8df698de 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 Coddling the Unabomber Subject The topic of the resource Kaczynski, Theodore John, 1942- Death row Description An account of the resource Vermont Law Professor Michael Mello advocates for the privacy of Ted Kaczynski, more commonly known as: The Unabomber. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The Herald Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Herald. "Coddling the Unabomber." Hist 297, accessed April 12, 2022. https://umw.history.org. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-12-11 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 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 Randolph, VT Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 5 Text Text Any textual data included in the document The Herald - Under the American justice system, even the most unpopular criminal suspect deserves an advocate besides his mother. Still, it’s hard to sympathize with the campaign of a Vermont Law School professor to coddle the Unabomber by forbidding the jury a chance to look at his explicit diaries. VLS professor Michael Mello has made a bit of a name for himself in death penalty cases, having guided about 70 death-row prisoners in Florida through last-minute maneuvering designed to save their lives. Now Mello has involved himself in the defense of Ted Kaczynski, who allegedly spread a swath of death and destruction-by-mail for decades, signing his messages with the “Unabomber” tag. An important part of the prosecution’s evidence is said to be a series of journals in which Kaczynski describes as many as 16 crimes in detail. The journals were confiscated from the cabin in which Kaczynski was living the life of a recluse when arrested. Prof. Mello does not think that the journals should be admitted in evidence. In support of that position, he offers that he, too, keeps a diary, which he considers “an extension of my own mind and my own soul and my own heart,” he told the Free Press. It sounds so nice and warm and fuzzy. But in the Unabomber’s case, the mind, soul, and heart were crazily warped and extremely dangerous to society. If he was careless enough to write it all up in journals, and leave them lying around, then so much the worse for him. Mello thinks that admitting diaries into evidence is akin to requiring Kaczinski to testify against himself, which is forbidden by the Fifth Amendment. But that important amendment was written so that the police could not torture “confessions” out of suspects. It wasn’t intended to tenderly protect the minds, souls and hearts of mass murderers. Sticking up for the Unabomber in this case is more likely to foster cynicism about defendants’ rights than it is to advance them. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Van Doren, Jamie Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Garner, Neonya 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 Coddling the Unabomber Subject The topic of the resource Death row Kaczynski, Theodore John Description An account of the resource Vermont Law Professor Michael Mello advocates for the privacy of Ted Kaczynski, more commonly known as: The Unabomber. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The Herald Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived "Coddling the Unabomber." The Herald, December 11, 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 1997-12-11 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 300 DPI 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 Randolph, VT Death Row Michael Mello Unabomber https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/4fc4a6d54b825662fddd18dda1fd6995.jpg 7951226fccceb50a9588c0c100b5ffdb 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 Vt. Law Prof Aids Kaczynski Defense Subject The topic of the resource Defense attorney aids plaintiff Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rutland Daily Herald Description An account of the resource Michael Mello, Professor of Law in Vermont helped the attorneys representing the Unabomber. Coincidentally, one of the bombs sent by Kaczynski killed this same Law Professor's mentor, Judge Robert S. Vance of Birmingham, Alabama. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Newspaper article by the Associated Press Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Associated Press Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Tuesday, December 9, 1997 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright Associated Press Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Newspaper article Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Vermont Law School Profesor Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Murder Trial of Ted Kaczynski Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 5 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [Title] Vt. Law Prof Aids Kaczynski Defense South Royalton – A Vermont Law School professor whose mentor was killed by a mail bomb is helping defend the man accused of being the Unabomber. Michael Mello is helping attorneys for Ted Kaczynski fight the admissibility of the Montana hermit’s journals, which prosecutors said “are the backbone of the government’s case.” Mello, who keeps a diary, contends a person’s diary should be given the same constitutional protection against self-incrimination as his spoken words, which are guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. Since early May, Mello has had a half-dozen phone calls with Judy Clarke, Kaczynski’s lead lawyer. Kaczynski is facing federal charges that he sent four bombs through the mail, killing two people. Federal prosecutors in the trial in Sacramento, Calif., are seeking the death penalty. Although the prosecution won an early round on Kaczynski’s diary, Mello expects his argument to prevail. “My diary is an extension of my own mind and my own soul and my own heart,” Mello said. “And the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States says the government can’t extract information from my mind, my heart, and my soul. “That’s what the prohibition against compelled self-incrimination means.” Mello, 40, has taught at Vermont Law School since 1988. He has spent much of his legal career defending death row inmates  in Florida and he clerked for U.S. Appeals Court Judge Robert S. Vance. The Birmingham, Ala., judge was killed in 1989 by a bomb sent to his home. “He was as close to a professional father as I’ve ever had,” Mello said. “I loved him.” The man convicted of killing Vance, Walter Leroy Moody, was sentenced last year to death. Moody also kept a diary, and the very pieces of the Kaczynski defense that Mello is helping to design could be used to save the man who killed the most important person in Mello’s life. Mello’s “nightmare” is that his diary argument will be used to win Moody a new trial, and that at the trial, he’ll be acquitted. But as a legal scholar whose professional practice focuses on capital cases, he feels he must answer compelling constitutional questions in death-penalty cases. Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Childers, Daniel Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper article 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 Vt. Law Prof Aids Kaczynski Defense 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 Description An account of the resource Michael Mello, professor of law in Vermont, helped the attorneys representing the Unabomber. Coincidentally, one of the bombs sent by Kaczynski killed this same law professor's mentor, Judge Robert S. Vance of Birmingham, Alabama. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Tuesday, December 9, 1997 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Unabomber criminal trial Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The Associated Press Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Subject The topic of the resource Kaczynski, Theodore John, 1942- https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/bf5c04b2967481a9b63660e3e417cedc.jpg ed8a86ed7d36f54e783683b41a73e31b https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/832c4218e7d076fd25dbe25fd5e73a94.jpg 16098156c4f003159c4a4aa362f42dc4 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/59ad42df3f07dc82b0fac14dcb1d88fc.jpg 590ecda1ac82265c747e6553bd071e35 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 Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper article Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Phillips, Lauren Text Any textual data included in the document Professor aids Kaczynski’s defense Man consults on admissibility of diary in Unabomber case Michael Mello, a professor at Vermont Law School whose mentor and “professional father” was killed by a mail bomb, is advising the defense of Ted Kaczynski, the alleged Unabomber on trial for mailing a series of deadly bombs. Mello’s advice centers on the admissibility of Kaczynski’s journals, which the prosecution has said “are the backbone of the government’s case.” Mello, who keeps a diary, contends a person’s diary should be afforded the same constitutional protection against self-incrimination as his spoken words – protection that is guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. Since early May, Mello has had a half-dozen phone calls with Judy Clarke, Kaczynski’s lead lawyer. The prosecution in the trial in Sacramento, Calif., is seeking the death penalty. Although the prosecution won an early round on Kaczynski’s diary, Mello expects his argument to prevail. “My diary is an extension of my own mind and my own soul and my own heart,” Mello said. “And the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States says the government can’t extract information from my mind, my heart and my soul. That’s what the prohibition against compelled self-incrimination means.” [image- man in library] Michael Mello is a law professor at Vermont Law School in South Royalton. He is advising the defense of Ted Kaczynski, the alleged Unabomber on trial for mailing deadly bombs. Mello’s ‘nightmare’ For Mello, 40, who has taught at Vermont Law School since 1988, the case resonated personally and professionally for several reasons: He spent four years defending death row inmates in Florida, attempting 11th-hour appellate maneuverings to spare their lives. Mello continued to represent death row clients while teaching at Vermont Law School. He had kept a diary since 1982, when he clerked for his mentor, U.S. Appeals Court Judge Robert S. Vance, because he realized he was “living through the fundamental experience of my life.” The Birmingham, Ala., judge was killed in 1989 by a bomb sent to his home. “I have a real special place in my heart, a special fear and loathing, for people who commit murder by sending bombs through the U.S. mail,” Mello said. “I have no sympathy whatsoever for the Unabomber. . . . If he ends up winning in the appellate court based on the diary stuff, I will Mello file Name: Michael A. Mello Home: Wilder Age: 40 Profession: Professor of constitutional and criminal law at Vermont Law School Family: Wife, Deanna Recent Book: “Dead Wrong: A Death Row Lawyer Speaks Out Against Capital Punishment” (University of Wisconsin Press, $27.95) have very mixed feelings about that.” The man convicted of killing Vance, Walter Leroy Moody, was sentenced last year to death. He also kept a diary, and the very pieces of the Kaczynski defense that Mello is helping to design could be used to save this man who killed one of the most important persons in Mello’s life. Mello’s “nightmare” is that his diary argument will be used to win Moody a new trial, and that at the trial, he’ll be acquitted. But as a legal scholar whose professional practice centered on capital cases, he feels he must answer compelling constitutional questions in death-penalty cases. It is the reason he is consulting on the Kaczynski case, and the reason he and third-year law student Paul Perkins wrote a 74-page law review article on the Kaczynski diary. It will be published in the January issue of the Vermont Law Review. “It was a law review article waiting to be written, screaming to be written,” Mello said. “The Kaczynski case is a law professor’s classroom hypothetical gone mad.” The final pages of the article are Mello’s alone, an epilogue about his work in Vance’s courtroom and his admiration for the judge. “He was as close to a professional father as I’ve ever had,” Mello said. “I loved him.” Eight years after Vance’s murder, his death makes Mello cry. He thinks about Vance, an opponent of Gov. George Wallace and a civil rights activist, all the time. The cruel irony, Mello said, is that Vance survived the front lines of the civil rights battle, yet more than two decades later was violently killed in his own home. “By 1989, we all thought he was safe,” said Mello, who was so devastated by the killing he couldn’t go to the funeral. “I bought the ticket,” Mello said. “I couldn’t make myself get on the plane.” Mello clerked for Vance after graduating in 1982 from the University of Virginia Law School. He spent the bulk of his clerkship working on death-penalty cases on appeal from Alabama state courts. Though Vance was personally opposed to the death penalty, he was bound by law to uphold it. “We argued very bitterly and very loudly about death penalty cases,” Mello said. The experience led Mello to his work in Florida, where he spent five years as an advocate for death row inmates in the Public Defender’s Office. “I left there thinking I’ll pay penance for a year,” Mello said. “Once I got into doing the work full time, it was impossible to leave until I felt it was eating me up. It was consuming me.” Of about 70 cases Mello worked closely on in Florida, six ended in executions in an electric chair built in 1923. A defense lawyer was always in attendance at the executions, in part because a small percentage are botched. Though the front-line lawyers tended to know the inmates and their families best, it was decided an administrator would attend the executions. “We were afraid that if any of us witnessed an execution it would be so emotionally annihilating to us that we wouldn’t be able to function,” Mello said. “That was my rationale. As much as anything else, it was just simple cowardice.” Final talks Mello, who has written a book about his work in Florida, “Dead Wrong,” also believed he was not the appropriate person for final conversations with a man facing death. He was advocating on the inmate’s behalf until the very last moment. “What they need to be doing is preparing themselves to be killed," he said. In California, the diary argument has yet to yield the results Mello hoped for: U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell, who is trying the Kaczynski case, ruled in pretrial motions the journals are admissible. Mello claims he is not fazed by the decision. “It’s a winner in the 9th Circuit (Court of Appeals), and I believe it’s a winner in the Supreme Court as well,” Mello said. “What he’s (Burrell) done is handed the defense a nuclear bomb of an appellate issue. He has essentially issued Ted Kaczynski, accused Unabomber, an insurance policy.” 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 Professor Aids Kaczynski's Defense Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Bombs Description An account of the resource This article discusses Michael Mello's opinion on using Kaczynski's personal diary as evidence against him in a court of law. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pollak, Sally Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Pollak, Sally. "Professor aids Kaczynski's defense". The Burlington Free Press. Monday, December 8, 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 1997-12-08 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 3 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Burlington, VT https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/e9021f88e5ec813d91c14567cfe96004.jpg 3028072efa66d57d5560ecacf1a7dd31 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 5 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [Title] Death not easy punishment for murder [Author] Michael Mello [Newspaper opinion section title] It’s My Turn Eight winters ago, a man I loved as a father was murdered. A few days before Christmas 1989, a racist coward with a grudge mailed a shoebox-sized bomb to federal appellate Judge Robert S. Vance. The bomb, which detonated in the kitchen of Judge Vance’s home on the outskirts of Birmingham, killed him instantly and almost killed his wife, Helen. I mention this story because it is an awkward time to oppose capital punishment in New England. The unfathomable lust murder of Jeffrey Curley in Cambridge, Mass., and the senseless slaughter of New Hampshire state trooper Jeremy Charron cry out for swift and severe punishment. This is as it should be; especially heinous crimes deserve an especially severe response by criminal law. Reasonable minds can conclude — as 38 American states have concluded — that capital punishment should exist as an option. Gov. Howard Dean — our homegrown Doctor Death — recently had an epiphany about capital punishment: He now supports it. He also seems to have decided to seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2000. With the razor thin 81-79 vote in the Massachusetts House last week, following only 12 hours of debate, it seems that restoration of capital punishment in Massachusetts is all but inevitable. But before Massachusetts decides irrevocably to become America’s 39th capital punishment state, and Vermont to become the 40th, its leaders ought to pause to study and consider the experiences of its predecessor states. Those experiences have not been happy ones. New York, for instance, has had the death penalty for two years — without a single capital trial but with a multimillion dollar capital defense office. Or take California, which has had capital punishment for more than 20 years and now has the nation’s largest death row — more than 400, but only two executions; when, in 1986, the California electorate decided that the state Supreme Court was too soft on capital punishment, the people tossed three justices out of office — and yet, still, only two California executions have occurred in the intervening years. Or Texas, where death rides an assembly line. Or consider Florida, the state that has, perhaps more than any other, strived — and paid with millions and millions of tax dollars — to make capital punishment fair as well as swift, and the state where I worked full time as capital appellate public defender in 1983-1987. Today, all executions in Florida are on hold following the fiery botched electrocution of Pedro Medina earlier this year. Why, you might ask, does not Florida simply replace its three-legged, solid oak electric chair — built in 1923 by prison inmates — with lethal injection? It’s not that simple. Lethal injections can, and frequently are, botched. This is so because the Hippocratic Oath precludes doctors and other highly trained medical personnel from participating in executions; and this means Florida’s medical lobby opposes lethal injection as a method of execution. In fact, no mechanism of execution is close to foolproof because it just isn’t easy to devise a way of killing an otherwise healthy human being that is quick, painless and not horrible for the state-selected witnesses to watch. It turns out that Florida has no easy or simple answer to its problem about how to carry out executions. This illustrates an essential fact about capital punishment: Nothing about it is as easy or simple as it first appears. Not even the choice of execution method. And that choice is only the beginning. These questions, and scores like them, are the real death penalty. The 38 states with capital punishment know this. Enacting a capital punishment statute is the easy part. The hard part is making capital punishment as a legal system work. That is hard and complicated and frustrating and very, very, very expensive. I oppose capital punishment as it exists — and as it will continue to exist for the foreseeable future, regardless of what the politicians tell you — as a legal system in America today. America’s modern experience with capital punishment has taught that it is a rigged lottery, skewed by matters of politics, class, race, geography and, most important, the quality of the defense lawyer at trial. The death penalty is not reserved for the worst murderers with the worst layers at trial. And innocent people will — inevitably — be sentenced to death and executed. It’s as inevitable as the law of averages and the fallibility of an infinite punishment administered by finite human beings and institutions. Judge Robert Vance loathed the death penalty as racist and pointless and degrading and deforming of the law he cherished. But, as a federal appellate judge, he often was constrained to uphold death sentences; when I was his law clerk, the judge and I argued, sometimes bitterly, about death cases. He always won these arguments; he was, after all, the judge. His assassin now lives on Alabama’s death row and, when he is executed, a small part of me will cheer, God forgive me. But another part of me, where Judge Vance still lives, will die again. Nothing about the real capital punishment is easy. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Felipe, Teresa Student Editor of the Digital Item Van Doren, Jamie Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Death Not Easy Punishment for Murder Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Description An account of the resource After the murder of federal appellate Judge Robert S. Vance, Mello discusses the opinions on the death penalty held in states such as Florida, California, New York, and Texas. Mello further examines the complications of the death penalty including the question of its legality, the difficulty of carrying out the sentences, as well as the huge expense these penalties cause. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Mello, Michael. "Death Not Easy Punishment for Murder." Burlington (VT) The Burlington Free Press, November 23, 1997. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-11-23 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Burlington, VT capital punishment death penalty Michael Mello https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/49fe268685b560eea95dd44f6c7c629e.jpg 1d913c434208338ecd4581e1c700d5f9 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/8128a96413fb9d37545af05bcc257536.jpg f21e76fd3f3ef519f2c67c690a8ef933 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 5 Text Text Any textual data included in the document The Feds’ Case Against Kaczynski By William Claiborne and William Booth The Washington Post Sacramento, Calif. – By the time a suspect was apprehended in April of last year, after the most extensive and expensive manhunt ever, the terrorist known as the Unabomber had become one of the most widely known serial killers in history. With the arrest of Theodore John Kaczynski in Montana, FBI agents uncovered a cabin filled with damning evidence, including not only a signature explosive device in the style of the Unabomber, but a draft of his infamous 35,000-word manifesto against technology and diaries providing incredible detail about Kaczynski’s thoughts and actions, material that appears to amount to a virtual signed confession. This trove of incriminating evidence will form the core of the government’s case against Kaczynski when his federal trial begins here with jury selection today. What possible defense will Kaczynski, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, offer? His lawyers appear to be ready to tell the jury that despite all that prosecutors know about the defendant, there is something missing: Kaczynski is mentally ill, they are expected to argue, probably suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. It is a high-risk strategy, yet one that many trial lawyers agree may be the only way to keep Kaczynski, 55, from being put to death if he is found guilty at the end of his trial, which is expected to last at least four months. Kaczynski’s defense lawyers, viewed as highly capable and impassioned, have said little to the press about their trial strategy, signaling only through court documents that they intend to marshal a partial defense arguing that the former mathematics wunderkind-turned-hermit, who according to his family harbored inside him a seething rage, suffered from “a mental defect.” If they do pursue this strategy, it would not be as a traditional insanity defense – excusing the crime because of mental illness. Instead, Kaczynski’s attorneys may attempt to present testimony that would suggest that their client suffered from a so-called “diminished capacity” and therefore was incapable of fully forming an intent to murder and maim. In other words, Kaczynski may have committed the crimes, but his sense of reality was so abnormal, so delusional, that he cannot be held responsible. Kaczynski’s lawyers, too, want the jurors to enter his primitive cabin, trucked more or less in its entirety to Sacramento from Montana, and to experience what his world was like: the tiny dark cell, without electricity or running water, where he lived alone for a quarter of a century, aloof from daily social interactions that, according to his family, so troubled him. “I think it’s pretty clear that the defense is going to introduce the issue of mental disturbance one way or another,” said Paul Mattiuzzi, a forensic psychologist in Sacramento who has testified in other mental-defect cases. “The evidence of mental defect may be important in the guilt phase. But it may be even more valuable in the punishment phase (if he is found guilty) … .” Legal experts agree. “This is what I suspect is really is going on,” said Peter Arenella, a law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles and nationally recognized authority on insanity and diminished-capacity defense. “All sorts of mitigating evidence might be presented to show that he’s a strange bird, not someone we should execute, because he’s crazy as a loon.” Kaczynski was transferred Thursday from the Federal Correctional Facility in Dublin, south of San Francisco, back to the Sacramento County Jail, where he had been held for more than a year after his arrest. He was moved to Dublin in September after complaining of excessive noise and insomnia at the Sacramento jail. Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Michael Nelson said the accused Unabomber, who has abandoned his shaggy, mountain-man beard in favor of a neatly trimmed style, spends most of his time in his single cell quietly reading books from the jail library. “He’s a very prolific reader. He goes through books pretty quickly,” said Nelson. Nelson said Kaczynski’s cell is isolated from the other prisoners and that he is under 24-hour watch. He is allowed out of his cell for an hour of exercise a day in an exercise yard – alone – and is a “model prisoner,” the chief deputy marshal said. Kaczynski’s two lead defense attorneys are Quin Denvir, a federal public defender who has won reversals of three guilty verdicts in death-penalty cases, and Judy Clarke, who convinced a South Carolina jury that Susan Smith did not deserve the death penalty for drowning her two sons in a lake. Smith was sentenced to life in prison. After months of legal wrangling, however, Kaczynski last week refused to submit to examination by the prosecution’s psychiatrists. Such a refusal might serve to bar the defense from offering testimony from its own experts as to Kaczynski’s mental state, but it would not necessarily preclude other witnesses – such as family members, including his brother David, who alerted authorities that Kaczynski might be the Unabomber – from telling jurors they believe that the hermit is mentally impaired. [image – Theodore Kaczynski] [image caption] Kaczynski It is unknown whether Kaczynski’s brother or mother will be called to testify. David Kaczynski has said in interviews that he is tormented by the idea that his decision to turn in his brother to save the lives of other potential victims may end up costing his brother his life. The accused Unabomber has refused to meet with his family since his arrest. In the government’s own trial brief filed with the court last week, prosecutors laid out their case against Kaczynski – and it was clear from the documents that the government will seek to show that Kaczynski was a cold, calculating murderer who sought, in words from his diary, as quoted by the prosecution, to “kill someone I hate” and to gain “revenge on society.” They will attempt to show that the defendant knew exactly what he was doing as he patiently handcrafted his bombs, often with intricate carvings, and picked victims who somehow offended his anti-technology sensibilities. The former mathematics professor at the University of California at Berkeley is charged, specifically, not with murder, but with transporting and mailing explosive devices with the intent to kill and injure. Though the government seeks to prove that Kaczynski is the elusive Unabomber, who over a period of 18 [end page one] [start page two] years beginning in 1978 mailed or placed 16 bombs that killed three victims and injured another 29 persons, he is charged in the Sacramento trial with only four bombings between 1985 and 1995, which resulted in two deaths and two serious maimings. Most damaging to Kaczynski’s defense are voluminous diaries, hand-written journals, experimental logs and an uncompleted autobiography seized in the recluse’s primitive cabin near Lincoln, Mont., when he was arrested on April 3, 1996. A few excerpts from the written material have found their way into the court record, though the bulk of the material has not been made public. During a motions hearing in September, lead prosecutor Robert J. Cleary called the journals “the backbone of the government’s case.” Consisting of thousands of pages, many of them in three-ring binders and some written in Spanish or in an easily deciphered code, the writings include explicit admissions – indeed, prideful boasts in many instances – to each of the Unabomber’s attacks, according to prosecutors. Many of the writings, Cleary said, are innocent entries like “you know, my day in the woods, what I ate for dinner – that sort of thing.” But a smaller set of documents about a foot high contains devastating admissions, Cleary told U.S. District Court Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr., who will preside at the trial. Among other things, the government said, the notes reflect the writer’s experimentation with bomb components, his method of construction of at least seven explosive devices and chilling commentary of the success of his attacks. One journal entry offered by the prosecution was made shortly after the Unabomber’s first fatal victim, computer-store owner Hugh Scrutton, 38, was killed in Sacramento by a device left behind his store. “Experiment 97,” the entry reads, “Dec. 11, 1985, I planted a bomb disguised to look like a scrap of lumber behind Rentech computer store in Sacramento. According to the San Francisco Examiner, Dec. 20, the ‘operator’ … was killed, blown to bits.” Another entry, from 1980, describes the mail-bomb attack on the former president of United Airlines, Percy Wood: “After complicated preparation I succeeded in injuring the Pres of United A.L. but he was only one of a vast army of people who directly or indirectly are responsible for the jets.” Although many of the diary entries referred to in the government’s filings have been edited for tactical and legal reasons, prosecutors said the documents clearly show Kaczynski’s “desire to kill, his joy when he does so and his frustration when he does not.” Since the defense team has already agreed to a stipulation that virtually all the handwritten documents found in the cabin were written by Kaczynski, its efforts at keeping them out of the trial have centered on arguments that they are uniquely personal papers that should be held inadmissible on the basis of the First, Fourth and Fifth amendments to the Constitution. Burrell so far has refused to suppress the diaries, saying that “voluntarily prepared” documents are not protected by the Fifth Amendment even if they are private diaries that are self-incriminating. Michael Mello, a Vermont Law School professor who has consulted with defense attorney Judy Clarke on the issue, said, “They have to (suppress them), because what is so intuitively clear to me, as a keeper of diaries for 15 years, is a logical line of demarcation between diaries and other kinds of papers.” Unlike letters, Mello said, “There is something special about a diary, and there is something especially unsettling to the American spirit in the government sending a man to death … on the basis of his diary.” Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Martin, Kathleen Student Editor of the Digital Item Van Doren, Jamie Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Feds' Case Against Kaczynski Subject The topic of the resource Insanity defense--United States Kaczynski, Theodore John, 1942- Description An account of the resource The defense attorneys for Theodore John Kaczynski, the accused Unabomber, will attempt to argue that their client suffered from "a mental defect" and cannot be held responsible for his crimes. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Claiborne, William Booth, William The Washington Post Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Claiborne, William, and William Booth. "The Feds' Case Against Kaczynski." Valley News, November 12, 1997. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-11-12 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English capital punishment criminal defense Insanity defense Michael Mello Theodore Kaczynski Unabomber https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/073604719de1bca53b55de127e34c5fa.jpg 5cb7345ed77b54060436e2225196dcf4 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/e4a868f906a23ad450235efca887c0f3.jpg 41a833f68b43135b55a1546e594582c5 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/15685434c00def988fb104b08a3cdcde.jpg 3d118b47d94857712071fef9ddcbd6f1 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 Unabom Trial to Explore Sanity and Responsibility By William Glaberson SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov. 9 — A year and a half after a shaggy recluse stepped out of a Montana cabin and ended one of the most remarkable manhunts in American history, Theodore J. Kaczynski is to go on trial here this week on charges that he was the Unabomber who sent a chill through the country with a string of package bombings that began in 1978. In Federal Court here, Mr. Kaczynski’s fight to avoid conviction and the death penalty will force his lawyers to contend with an extraordinary trove of prosecution evidence found in his cabin, including a carbon copy of the anti-technology manifesto the Unabomber had sent to news organizations, an unexploded bomb and detailed entries from his journals like “I mailed that bomb.” And the case is likely to present the riveting picture of Mr. Kaczynski’s younger brother, David, taking the stand to try to save the life of the very sibling he turned into the authorities after reading the manifesto. It was David Kaczynski who went to the F.B.I. in 1996 and told them he thought his brother could be the man they were looking for. But in recent weeks, it has become clear that a central theme, both inside and outside the courtroom, will be how to assess individual responsibility for acts that seem at once meticulously planned, and at the same time, fiendishly arbitrary. The campaign that left more than two dozen people wounded and three dead was so irrational it could only have been the product of madness, some people including Mr. Kaczynski’s lawyers say. Arguing that Mr. Kaczynski’s mental deterioration rendered him incapable of forming the criminal intent necessary to be held responsible under the law, they say the death penalty would compound the irrationality. But others, including the Yale University computer-science professor David J. Gelernter, who may be the Unabomber’s best known target, have begun to argue in public that the Unabomber is the personification of unrepentant evil and that only a weak nation would shrink from imposing the ultimate penalty. Mr. Kaczynski’s lawyers have signaled that they may argue that Continued on page A26 [image- cabin] Theodore J. Kaczynski, whose trial will begin in Sacramento, Calif., this week with charges involving serial bombings, lived in a small cabin in Montana for years without electricity or plumbing. It was there, Federal authorities, that say he made many of the package bombs that wounded more than two dozen people and killed three in the attacks aimed at stopping technology. In June, Mr. Kaczynski was led out of a court in Helena, Mont., before he was transferred to California. Continued From Page A1 he was a paranoid schizophrenic. The prosecutors have asked the judge to bar that effort because Mr. Kaczynski refused last month to be examined by Government psychiatrists. The debate will pit two images against each other. One is that of the mysterious figure with the hood and sunglasses in the much-circulated law-enforcement sketch of the Unabomber, so named by investigators because his first targets were at Universities and airlines. With the help of elliptical letters and demands the bomber made to The Washington Post and The New York Times to publish his 35,000 word anti-technology tract, that hooded figure with the aviator glasses seemed to be making a bid for folk-hero status. Legal experts say that will be the image the prosecution will try to project to coax jurors into fury at a man they will portray as a manipulative killer. The other image is the one the defense is likely to recall the jurors: the loner with tangled hair who emerged from the tiny cabin in the Rockies and who fertilized his vegetable garden with his own excrement. “The prosecution is going to say, ‘Yeah, this guy is eccentric but so are all terrorists and mass murderers,’ “ said James B. Jacobs, a criminal law expert at New York University School of Law. “The defense is going to say: ‘This is a guy who lived in the woods. For years! He’s completely antisocial. He’s [a] paranoid schizophrenic.’ ” In the battle of images, some criminal defense lawyers say, Mr. Kaczynski may be a victim of his own success. If he was the Unabomber, they say, he skillfully played to a segment of the populace that was suspicious of technology. The attention in the news media made him seem an enigmatic genius who meticulously crafted parts of his bombs by hand. In 1995, People magazine named him one of the most intriguing people of the year. “He was presented as a pop hero, a rebel who was protesting the encroaching oppression of technology and he had a hand in creating that image. It’s hard to portray a pop hero as insane,” said Robert Precht, a defense lawyer who represented the lead defendant in the World Trade Center bombing case. In the case before Judge Garland Burrell Jr. of Federal District Court here, Mr. Kaczynski, 55, faces charges as a result of the deaths of two Sacramento men, Hugh C. Scrutton, who ran a computer store, in 1985 and, Gilbert B. Murray, the president of the California Forestry Association, in 1995. In addition, he is accused of mailing the two bombs from Sacramento that wounded Dr. Gelernter at Yale in New Haven in 1993 and Charles J. Epstein, a geneticist at the University of California at San Francisco, in 1993. Because the new Federal death penalty was not in force at the time of Mr. Scrutton’s death, Mr. Kaczynski will face the death penalty only if he is convicted in the 1995 killing of Mr. Murray. On Friday, Judge Burrell rejected a defense request to bar the possibility of the death penalty. After the current trial, Mr. Kaczynski will face the death penalty again when he is to be tried in Federal Court in New Jersey for a 1994 bombing that killed Thomas J. Mosser. Mr. Mosser was an advertising executive who was killed at his North Caldwell, N.J., home when he opened a package. [Image] After jury selection, which is expected to take as long as a month, the trial will begin with a so-called guilt phase in which the prosecutors will be required to prove that Mr. Kaczynski not only committed each of the bomb attacks but also intended to injure his victims. If Mr. Kaczynski is found guilty, a second phase of the trial would be conducted to determine whether he would be sentenced to death. Lawyers who have been following the case say they sense that there has been a behind-the-scenes struggle between Mr. Kaczynski and his lawyers over the question of how he should be portrayed. They believe that Mr. Kaczynski has been resisting the lawyers’ efforts to describe his actions as the product of mental illness. These lawyers say that the two experienced Federal public defenders in the case would surely have advised Mr. Kaczynski that if they made a claim of diminished-capacity, the prosecutors would demand an examination by their own psychiatric experts. When prosecutors made that demand and Mr. Kaczynski refused, lawyers say, it was predictable that the prosecutors would try to bar the defense from introducing any psychiatric evidence and they did. Judge Burrell has yet to rule on the prosecution motion to preclude that evidence. In this way, Mr. Kaczynski may have jeopardized his psychiatric defense, and that, the lawyers who have been watching the case say, may have been what he hoped. Mr. Kaczynski, they say, appears unwilling to go along with suggestions that his best chance to avoid the death penalty would be [to] portray him as mentally ill. Mr. Kaczynski is represented by Quin Denvir, the chief Federal defender here, who is known as a consistent opponent of the death penalty, and Judy Clarke, the chief Federal defender in Spokane, Wash., who was one of the lawyers for Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who was convicted of murdering her two sons. Ms. Clarke helped to convince the jury that Mrs. Smith should not be put to death. The chief prosecutor in the case, Robert J. Cleary, has been pushing strongly for the death penalty. Mr. Cleary, 42, the son of a retired New York City police officer, is the second in command of the Federal prosecutor’s office in Newark. He was appointed to lead the Unabom case by Attorney General Janet Reno. At Yale, Dr. Galarnter said Mr. Kaczynski’s trial was important partly because of the stark debate it presents over personal responsibility. He stands squarely with the prosecutors who are expected to call him to the stand. “A lot of people in this country have a predisposition to believe that if you kill people with bombs, you must be insane,” said Dr. Gelernter, who was injured in one eye, lost part of his right hand and hearing in one ear. “We know that’s not true. We know sane men are capable of arbitrary bestiality.” Some legal experts say that to draw their portrait of a troubled Theodore John Kaczynski, the defense lawyers may not fight too strenuously against the avalanche of evidence expected from the prosecution. “Both sides have the same facts,” said Michael Mello, a professor at Vermont Law School who recently wrote a law review article on the Kaczynski case. “But they are going to be asking the jurors to draw very different logical inferences from those same facts.” The defense lawyers may simply allow the prosecutors to tell their story to the jurors. It will be a story of a Harvard prodigy who grew up to live alone in a mountain cabin with no water or electricity and who is charged with assembling bombs that he would ship off to people he had never met. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Van Doren, Jamie Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Salp, Evan 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 Unabom Trial to Explore Sanity and Responsibility Subject The topic of the resource Unabomber Trial Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The New York Times Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The New York Times. "Unabom Trial to Explore Sanity and Responsibility ." New York Times, November 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 1997-11-10 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 3 JPGs 300 DPI Description An account of the resource Discussion of the proposed prosecution and defence of Ted Kaczinski. Language A language of the resource English https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/ac2882dae4c5796df647d4c016c37137.jpg 9fa906bba0d4ddcd1faf5052cb1b2b6b 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 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. Leonard, Gavin Text Any textual data included in the document [Publication info] Valley News Thursday, November 6, 1997 [Title] Not The Michael Mello I Know To The Editor: I read with displeasure the article “Evolution Of A Death Row Lawyer” (Sunday Valley News, Oct. 12). I have known Professor Michael Mello since I entered law school in 1995. I chose to enroll at Vermont Law School in large part because he is tenured here. Given his academic resume, his many professional and personal accomplishments, and the publicity he has received, I expected to meet an unapproachable professional with little patience for students who have so little to recommend us. Instead, I found a man eager to teach in and out of the classroom, a friendly professor who catches a student’s mere hint of self-deprecation and quickly counters it, one who eagerly lends books and invites critiques of every aspect of his life, including writings, from students and colleagues. He is an energetic and complex individual in the most Kierkegaardian sense. On the day my classmates and I stood on the banks of the White River while our professors and deans introduced themselves, a telephone message awaited Mello. It was a message that his client of 20 years was scheduled to be executed. That message ultimately led him to enlist the aid of his students in winning a stay of execution for “Crazy” Joe Spaziano (the fourth or fifth, a record in death cases) and to fly on a moment’s notice to Florida to argue another issue in the case before the Florida Supreme Court. This was done pro bono, as usual, and funded by his personal credit cards. That death case would be his last. He has turned to advocacy in public interest. Mello now writes. Instead of pouring all his ideas and work into briefs for one client, he writes law review articles, articles in The Nation, and books for academics, law students, lawyers and everyone else about the capital-punishment system and the toll it takes on our lives. Do a search on Westlaw, Lexis or just about any other data base, and you will see his works, his statements and his testimony before Congress quoted, borrowed or paraphrased too many times to count. Lawyers use those works in their cases, and enlist personal help as well. Mello happily stays behind the case, off brief, providing advice and research and emotional support One also sees his public-interest advocacy in the case in which he is presently involved as a plaintiff: He is trying to put some teeth into an informed-consent statute in Vermont that prevents most Vermonters from gaining access to the courts when they claim medical malpractice based on the lack of informed consent. Unfortunately, the lack of research done for the Valley News article and its lack of analysis would seem to belie his motive. I wish the Valley News would put as much energy into analyzing his case and his accomplishments as it trying to disparage him. [Author] Paul J. Perkins [Residence of Author] South Royalton [End of Page] 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 Not The Michael Mello I Know Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Informed consent (Medical Law) -- United States Mello, Michael Description An account of the resource Paul J. Perkins writes a response letter to the Valley News editor describing his former law professor Michael Mello. Perkins writes about his pro bono work on the Spaziano case and general advocacy on capital punishment reform as well as the informed-consent statute in Vermont. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Perkins, Paul J. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-11-06 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. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Perkins, Paul J. "Not The Michael Mello I Know." Valley News (Lebanon, NH), November 6, 1997, p. 1. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English law school Michael Mello Valley News https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/40ce3eb3256067ebb65da440b045937c.jpg bf91999fa1882a1cc0775a0cda672cc1 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/8d8fb0b1318b875d83da8c4d53037581.jpg fc7092ff771acc03f5901b2e734b39dd https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/151f4fa524f65b298f23afd480d2d395.jpg 8d61e1ab0218d27b37bd6da14bd92e85 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/8ffa7f2a90dec68d76660720cd3936c5.jpg 8305637d6c9c03a44965dfd8e948be11 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 5 Text Text Any textual data included in the document September 28, 1997 Sunday Valley News Death Penalty Foes Have Been Dormant By SARAH STROHMEYER Valley News Staff Writer LEBANON — For decades, foes of capital punishment have rested comfortably in New Hampshire knowing that the state’s last execution took place 58 years ago and that the likelihood of another one in their lifetimes seemed distant. But the alarm went off last month when Gordon Perry, 22, allegedly discharged his .38 caliber Taurus into the side of Epson Officer Jeremy Charron as he checked Perry’s car early on Aug. 24. Charron, who had just returned from serving as a pallbearer at the funeral of a New Hampshire trooper killed in a gun battle in the North Country, died on the way to the hospital. There have been other murders recently that might have met the narrow criteria for capital punishment in the Granite State, but for one reason or another the attorney general has not sought that penalty. That is not the situation with Perry’s case, which has been described by legal experts as solidly within the parameters of a capital crime. This time, the New Hampshire Attorney General has pledged to seek Perry’s execution. And now, death penalty foes are rushing to organize a movement to prevent that and other future executions — even though they already may be too late. “Basically it will take us a long time to gear up an organized effort,” said Arnold Alpert, New Hampshire Program Coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee. “In states like Texas and Florida, where executions have been taking place, (opponents) are organized about it. Or in states like Pennsylvania, where there is no death penalty, they have an active movement. But we’re in sort of this intermediate place.” One of the state’s more vocal opponents of capital punishment is Mark Larsen, a Lebanon lawyer, an unsuccessful candidate for Grafton County Attorney, and perhaps a future leader of the state’s anti-death penalty movement. Larsen said he decided to speak up months ago, following Gov. Jeanne Shaheen’s announcement during her campaign last fall that she intended to expand the death penalty statute to apply to those who murder during the commission of other specific felonies, especially when children are the victims. As a start, Larsen sent the governor a book on the death penalty written by former California governor E.G. “Pat" Brown. Last spring, Shaheen renewed her campaign pledge when a bill was introduced to the state legislature advocating the death penalty for people who murder children or crime witnesses. Now that Perry has been charged with a capital crime, the issue has taken on even greater intensity, Larsen said. “Certainly, with the Charron killing, this has got to ring into focus the question of the death penalty,” said Larsen. “I certainly intend to join with like-minded people to, number one, try to convince the governor that she doesn’t want to go down that path. My plan is to join with others. See Death — Page A6 [Bold Enlarged Quotation] “I certainly intend to join with like-minded people to … try to convince the governor that she doesn’t want to go down that path.” Mark Larsen Lawyer Continued from page A1 This is not the way we want to go, morally or ethically.” He and other observers have noted a striking convergence of factors over several years that contribute to the sense of urgency. They include changes in New Hampshire law that bring the state’s capital punishment statute in line with U.S. Supreme Court rulings, thereby making it tough to challenge in court; and a switch from hanging to lethal injection as the preferred method of execution, with the intent of making executions more politically palatable. Those changes took place after the state reinstituted capital punishment in 1977. And they seem to have caught death penalty opponents off guard. “In New Hampshire, the movement to reinstate capital punishment has been very methodical and without … public discussion,” said David Lamarre-Vincent, executive secretary of the New Hampshire Council of Churches. “I recall House and Senate hearings on incremental steps, and there was little press coverage and public interest.” The Rev. John McHugh, director of Aquinas House at the Catholic Student Center at Dartmouth College, testified in legislative hearings about the death penalty when it was reinstated in the ’77. He said he still is opposed to it, as is the Catholic Church, but does not have immediate plans to speak against it again. “I wasn’t aware that there was an imminent need,” he said. McHugh’s perception is not uncommon. Sarah Putnam is a Quaker, secretary of the local Society of Friends and an opponent of the death penalty. More recently, though, she had been immersed in other causes, such as protesting the launching of a satellite that will carry nuclear material into outer space. “As soon as the governor came into office, we wrote her a letter of support stating again our stand against capital punishment,” said Putnam, referring to her local Society of Friends. “But that was it. We haven’t been real active on this issue recently. … I wasn’t aware that there was even this momentum” about the death penalty. Lamarre-Vincent said a sense of urgency has been missing over the past decade or more in part because it has looked like New Hampshire’s narrowly defined capital punishment statute might never be imposed. He said he knows there is support for his organization’s anti-death-penalty stance because the council of churches got a heavy response to a pamphlet on the death penalty published just about the time of the Charron Shooting. “It’s a coincidence,” Lamarre-Vincent said. His group had begun work on the publication two years ago after it noticed a “gradual move toward an acceptance of the death penalty” in New Hampshire. Now the council or churches is trying to assemble a task force of theologians, lawyers and business people who are opposed to the death penalty; Lamarre-Vincent said he is searching for people willing to speak out. He said Larsen is one of the few he’s found so far who does not mind sticking his neck out. “What we want to do is create a forum for a renewed public discussion of this issue,” he said. “We want to begin to put together, hopefully, a task force. … I have been trying to find people willing to speak out on the issue. I just haven’t seen a lot of other people speaking out publicly.” New Hampshire has never been a hang-’em-high state. For the first 100 years of its settlement, no execution took place even though neighbors in Massachusetts seemed to be crazy for the public entertainment, at times hanging up to 16 people in one day. Sarah Simpson and Penelope Kenney, teenage girls, were hauled through the streets of Portsmouth on Dec. 27, 1739, and hanged in such a way that they died by slow strangulation. They had been convicted of drowning a child whose body was never found. The last execution took place on July 14, 1939, in the state prison in Concord. Howard Long was hanged for “a sexual slaying” in Laconia, according to a state librarian. In between, there was the 1796 hanging of Thomas Powers (some records use the name Palmer) in Haverhill for a murder committed in Lebanon. Since 1939, three people have spent time on death row. One man was sentenced to death in June 1949, but he committed suicide the following year. The other two were Rhode Island men who had killed a manufacturer in Nashua, but they were never hanged because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972. That Supreme Court ruling, in Furman vs. Georgia, also left a door open for the reinstatement of capital punishment by each state. Many states then rewrote their statues to address the high court’s concerns that the death penalty was too often targeting minorities and the indigent. Today 39 states have death penalty statutes. Debate about capital punishment in New Hampshire resumed in 1985, when then Attorney General Steven Merrill proposed changing the method of execution from hanging to lethal injection. At the time, Mississippi was the only other state that hanged its prisoners. Two years later, Gov. John Sununu signed the lethal injection bill into law. In 1990, the law was tinkered with again, and it is that revised version that is on the books now. To impose the death penalty, the state must have a case that falls into one of five specific categories: the killing of an on-duty law enforcement officer, the killing of someone during a kidnapping; the hiring of another person to kill, killing after being sentenced to life in prison without parole, and killing while committing or attempting to commit aggravated felonious sexual assault. That New Hampshire has not expanded its capital punishment statute to include “felony murders” — murders committed during other felony crimes — makes it a tougher law to challenge on a constitutional basis, according to Vermont Law School professor Mike Mello, a nationally recognized expert on the death penalty — and an opponent of it. “The states that have crafted narrow death penalty statutes have survived” constitutional challenges, he said, noting that New Hampshire modeled its statute after laws adopted in other states that had already passed “constitutional muster.” In New Hampshire, a jury must find unanimously, after a special sentencing hearing, that the murderer purposely killed the victim or victims, or purposely engaged in behavior that resulted in death. If the jury does that, then it must find that eight aggravating factors outweigh 10 mitigating factors in order to impose the death penalty. That vote must be unanimous, too. In the case of Perry, who already had a serious criminal record when Charron was killed, the key aggravating factor might be that he was trying to avoid or prevent a lawful arrest. And that is what may make the Perry case an urgent one for death penalty foes. “We’re following this case pretty closely in my capital punishment seminar,” said Mello. “Absolutely, this is the case I have been dreading would come along in New Hampshire.” Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Vol. No./Issue No. Volume and issue number for the newspaper (if available) Vol. 46, issue 112 Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Curran, Ruth Student Editor of the Digital Item Van Doren, Jamie Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Death Penalty Foes Have Been Dormant Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Strohmeyer, Sarah. “Death Penalty Foes Have Been Dormant.” Sunday Valley News, September 28, 1997. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-08-28 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 3 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Lebanon, NH Description An account of the resource The case of Gordon Perry is examined. It is considered by Michael Mello to be a case highly important to those opposing the death penalty in New Hampshire. https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/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/33ac3845dffbdd566ca8f08d02a32fc9.jpg 6bd97e668bae387ca3092b91edf449c8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 5 Text Text Any textual data included in the document <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Thursday, July 31, 1997</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Valley News</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dean’s Court Comments Draw Fire</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Associated Press</span></p> <p></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">MONTPELIER (AP) – Gov Howard Dean’s continuing criticism of judges is off the mark and reflects a lack of understanding about the court system, say several lawyers and constitutional experts.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Dean is just ignorant. I don’t think he understands what judges ought to do,” says Micheal Mello, a Vermont Law School professor who teaches advanced courses in constitutional law. “He perceives the Supreme Court as being broken in some way and sees himself on a mission to fix it.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“That is pure, ignorant, political demagoguery,” he said.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dean, who has now made two appointments to the five member Supreme Court, has said the direction of the court needs to be “changed dramatically.”&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I’m looking to steer the court back towards consideration of the rights of the victims,” Dean said three weeks ago in a radio interview with Bob Kinzel of the Vermont News Service. “I’m looking to make it easier to convict guilty people and not have as many technicalities interfere with justice.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Asked if that reflected a “get-tough-on-crime” approach, Dean responded: “My beef about the judicial system is that it does not emphasize truth and justice over lawyering. It emphasizes legal technicalities and rights of the defendants and all that.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Such comments may play well with the general public ,but they have sent a chill through the collective spine of lawyers – particularly defense lawyers – around the state.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Throughout his six year tenure, Dean's public chiding of the judiciary has led many lawyers to question the doctor- governor's grasp of constitutional law. In their eyes, Dean views the protections contained in the Bill of Rights as mere “technicalities.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As Mello sees it, the rights that Dean sees as “technicalities” are there to preserve the rights of all citizens, including citizens accused of crimes, to be free from government intrusion.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“These are not technicalities. In my view, any lawyer who said that would be speaking irresponsibly,” said Mello. “I am not a doctor, and I would not take it upon myself to tell Howard Dean how to practice medicine.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I don't think he has any regard for any process that gets in the way of what he wants to accomplish,” said Leighton Detora, a Barre, Vt.,&nbsp; lawyer who said he was once a supporter of the governor, but is no longer.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“He’s a doctor, and as such, he has all the learned responses to the legal profession – that we are just out here and lawyer’s jobs are to make things more complicated.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“In his own arrogance, I think somehow he thinks he has a lock on truth and wisdom,” said Detora, who is president-elect of the Vermont Trial Lawyers Association. He stressed that he was speaking only on his own behalf. Defender General Robert Appel says he does not share the governor's view that the Supreme Court has gone too far in weighing a defendant's rights.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I would say it is a fundamental difference in perspective between me and my boss,” said Appel. “I don’t think our Supreme Court or, any appellate court, lightly reverses a criminal conviction.” </span></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. Henle, Justin Student Editor of the Digital Item Van Doren, Jamie Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dean's Court Comments Draw Fire Description An account of the resource Reporting on the critical comments of Vermont governor Howard Dean towards the state Supreme Court and judicial system pertaining to defendants rights. Critics from law backgrounds comment on the governors stances and comments. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-07-31 Language A language of the resource English Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Associated Press Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Associated Press. “Dean’s Court Comments Draw Fire.” Valley News. Montpelier, July 31, 1997. Subject The topic of the resource Vermont--Supreme Court Vermont--Politics and government. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 JPG Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Montpelier, Vermont. https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/a2c19ebbb9ba88e745d5122bd87cdaed.jpg bfb4cca87d6c6d36146c646680c6f530 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/f025d79984f89ab402c08e8e04663b5c.jpg ead1f27007b1782b2a6f157ed471da2e 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 [heading] Hunter Indictment Is Phony [subheading] Commentary [author] Michael Mello [start of article] About a half century ago, a federal judge remarked that a prosecutor could indict a ham sandwich if the prosecutor wanted to. What the judge meant was that prosecutors exercise virtually total control over their grand juries: Prosecutors decided, unilaterally and in secret, what evidence their grand jurors will hear. The citizen who is the target of a grand jury probe is excluded from the process, if the prosecutor so decides: Neither the citizen/target nor his attorney has a right to cross-examine the prosecutor's witnesses, to present their own witnesses, or even to be present in the room. [next paragraph] Unfortunately, grand juries don't indict ham sandwiches. They indict American citizens. They indict whomever their prosecutors tell them to indict. [next paragraph] Recently, two different grand juries, hundreds of miles apart, indicted two very different men I call friends. In Florida, state prosecutors reindicted "Crazy Joe" Spaziano for the 1973 capital murder of Laura Lynn Harberts. Since 1976 -- when Jimmy Carter was beginning his single term as America's president -- Joe Spaziano has lived on Florida's death row for killing Ms. Harberts. During his 21 years on death row, he survived five death warrants. During that 21 years Joe Spaziano strongly proclaimed -- and as his lawyer for 14 of t hose years, I attempted to prove -- his innocence. Finally in 1996, after the state's only real witness against Spaziano in 1976 had recanted his trial testimony, the Florida courts ordered a retrial. Now that their case against Joe had disintegrated, the local prosecutors could and should have let the case drop. Instead, they persuaded a grand jury to re-indict Spaziano. "Crazy Joe" Spaziano: ham sandwich No. 1. [next paragraph] Ham sandwhich No. 2 is closer to home. Last week a federal grand jury in Vermont indicted Will Hunter. After a 1995 late-night raid on, and search of, Hunters home/office, and more than two years of investigation of Hunter for "laundering" drug money, the federal prosecutors persuaded their grand jury to indict Hunter for 10 counts of mail fraud (I have to wonder whether our federal prosecutors got this idea from the Tom Cruise character in "The Firm"). For good measure, they also threw in a count of bankruptcy fraud. [next paragraph] I know Joe Spaziano is innocent; and I expect Will Hunter is innocent as well. (Since I don't know the factual record of the Hunter case, I [separate quote] 'It take a courageous prosecutor to decide not to indict a citizen who has been the target of a public investigation.' [paragraph continues] must remain agnostic on this score.) But perhaps the more troubling common thread connecting the two cases is this: In both cases, I believe, the government abdicated their moral, ethical and legal responsibility not to indict citizens who have been the targets of intensive (and expensive: your tax dollars at work -- hundreds of thousands of your tax dollars, so far) prosecutorial scrutiny. Drive-by preconceived assumptions of guilt ("If they weren't guilty, we wouldn't have made them targets in the first place"), bureaucratic inertia, and institutional and political pressures to justify the tremendous amounts of time and energy and tax money already invested in the investigation, prosecutors might feel that they must come up with something. [next paragraph] What they came up with, in my view, is a lot of legalistic smog. Nowhere in their "24-page indictment" of Hunter do our federal prosecutors say that Hunter stole clients' money for personal gain. The government's fantasy of Hunter's "elaborate scheme to defraud" is nothing more than an artifice create by the government's clever manipulation of accounting principles. [next paragraph] Sure, Hunter made mistakes during his long and honorable career as a lawyer in Vermont. He's admitted that. Some of his mistakes were stupid ones. He's admitted that, too. [next paragraph] But any lawyer as busy and successful as Hunter will make mistakes. Give me two full years; give me hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to hire a staff; get a judge to authorize my law enforcement agents to stage a midnight raid on my target's home/law office; and I'll guarantee you I'll find at least 11 "irregularities" in the financial dealings of any lawyer in this state. [next paragraph] And the lawyers in this state should know it. perhaps that explains their otherwise inexplicable -- except perhaps for simple cowardice -- failure to stand with Will Hunter and against his persecution, first, by the fools who run Vermont's Professional Conduct Board, and, now, by our federal government. There certainly are lawyers in Vermont who lie to their clients, who steal money from their clients, who sexually harass their clients. There certainly are criminals hiding behind licenses to practice law in Vermont. But Will Hunter ain't one. [page break] [article continues] One mark of maturity and growth is to admit to one's mistakes and to make amends to those who were harmed by those mistakes. Will Hunter has learned that. Sadly, our federal government has not. [next paragraph] Like the rest of us mere mortals, government officials -- and that's exactly what prosecutors are -- hate to admit they were wrong. And they hate to look foolish. After all, reputations and careers are at stake (theirs, I mean). Remember Richard Jewell? [next paragraph] Even if Hunter's prosecutors lose at the subsequent criminal trial, they can always blame the jury (or the judge or the "liberal" Vermont Supreme Court or the clever defense lawyer) for letting a criminal go free. His -- the prosecutor's, I mean -- professional reputation need not suffer thereby. Of course, his target's reputation is annihilated. Again, remember Richard Jewell? [next paragraph] So now there will be the trials: Joe Spaziano's for his life, and Will Hunter's for his liberty and good name. This means yet more tax money spent -- unless the prosecutors can persuade their targets to accept a plea "bargain." [next paragraph] Already, rumors are swirling around Florida that the local prosecutors intend to offer "Crazy Joe" Spaziano a deal: He pleads guilty, in exchange for a life sentence, rather than the death penalty. If such a deal is offered, I'm note sure how I would advise my friend and former client -- my innocent friend and former client. Should I tell him to lie -- to confess to a murder he and I know he didn't commit -- in exchange for what's left of his life? After 21 years on death row, and five death warrants, I couldn't quarrel if he decided to take the prosecutor's "deal." [next paragraph] Similarly, I don't know what I'd tell my friend Will Hunter in the event his prosecutors offered him a "deal": In exchange for his pleading guilty to some minor infraction (regardless of whether he's in fact guilty of it), Hunter and his family are able to avoid the expense, humiliation and stress of a criminal trial in federal court. Imagine yourself in Hunter's shoes. What would you do? [next paragraph] These are the sorts of games some prosecutors play. It take a courageous prosecutor to decide not to indict a citizen who has been the target of a public investigation. Not long ago, Windsor County prosecutor Patricia Zimmerman took some political heat for just this reason. The heat was unjustified: She was just doing her job. And her job is to do justice, not to rack up as many prosecutions as possible. [next paragraph] The federal prosecutors in Vermont could learn a lot from Pat Zimmerman. [end] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Trick, Lukas 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 Hunter Indictment Is Phony Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mello, Michael Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-07-17 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 Subject The topic of the resource Capital punishment Law reform Description An account of the resource An article written by Michael Mello arguing for reform in the justice system claiming that the government abdicates its moral and ethical responsibility not to indict citizens being scrutinized by prosecutors. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2 JPGs 300 DPI Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Mello, Michael. "Hunter Indictment is Phony," Rutland Daily Herald (Rutland, VT), July 17, 1997 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/031a13792b85d00d5a2d3bdc28472a93.jpg b2b2df1a8d9897b9af9c4ea49d234367 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/40bc7cd0816311755730b618e6a3d82e.jpg e251e3756dd6b05ce3054638d01b30ab 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 [Heading]Hunter: ‘Not Guilty’ 11 Times [Subheading]Judge Set Trial Date For Aug.18 By Ed Ballam Valley News Staff Writer [start of the first column] BURLINGTON- In a clear, firm voice, Will Hunter pleaded innocent yesterday to 10 counts of mail fraud and one count of bankruptcy fraud during an arraignment on the charges in U.S District Court. With his wife and 3-year-old son seated behind him, Hunter- who appeared in federal court before U.S District Court Judge William Session- said “not guilty” 11 times in a voice that resounded through the courtroom each time Sessions asked for his plea. William A. Hunter IV, 43, of Cavendish, was indicted on the charges July 8. A 24-page indictment, handed up by a federal grand jury, alleged that Hunter, a lawyer, misappropriated tens of thousands of dollars of law clients’ funds for his personal benefit in fraudulent transactions between 1993 and 1996. Sessions released Hunter on personal recognizance bail and set trial for Aug. 18. Sessions did not honor a request by Assistant U.S Attorney Paul V. Vande Graaf, who asked the judge to prohibit Hunter from holding any third-person trust accounts as a fiduciary agent. Hunter’s lawyer, Peter Hall of Rutland, objected to request, indicating that Hunter is a trustee of a number of trust funds. In some cases, he said, it would be a hardship for the people he assists to find new trustees. Van de Graff told Sessions that at least one of the trust funds Hunter manages is the source of one of the criminal fraud charges against him. He said the owners of the trust funds may misunderstand the charges against Hunter. Sessions ordered Hunter to obtain written waivers within the next 10 days from each of the clients he serves as trustee, outlining the responsibilities as trustee. He is to file the waivers with the court. Sessions also imposed many of the standard conditions of release in federal arraignments, including that Hunter restrict his travels to the continental United States, maintain his residence in Cavendish and not (Continued on page A5) -Hunter [end of first column] [image] Valley News- Medora Hebert [caption] Will Hunter of Cavendish and his attorney Peter Hall talk to the media outside U.S. District Court in Burlington after Hunter pleaded not guilty. [start of second column] (Continued from page A1) imbibe alcohol excessively or take illegal drugs. Hunter also allowed Hall, a former assistant U.S Attorney, to file his appearance in the case, for the arraignment only, and reserved the right to have a different lawyer represent his case. In a brief interview after the arraignment, Hunter declined to comment on whether he plans to represent himself in the fraud case, but said it would be within his rights to do so. Hunter, a graduate of Harvard Law School who is a former Rhodes Scholar and state senator, practiced law for more than 10 years before voluntarily surrendering his license in January 1996 during an investigation by the Professional Conduct Board of his law practice. Hunter is appealing to the Vermont Supreme Court a recommendation by the conduct board that his license to practice law be suspended for three years. The Supreme Court’s decision is pending. During a brief news conference in front of the federal court building after the arraignment, Hunter declined to talk about the specifics of the chargers. He also declined to talk about who will be handling the case on his behalf. “We’ll be ready for trial on August 18, if that’s when the trial is going to be held,” Hunter said. “… One of the greatest things about the justice system is I’m innocent until I’m proven guilty.” Hunter excused himself at one point during the [end of second column] [start of third column] news conference to take his 3-year-old son, Sammy, to play in the public fountain down the street from the courthouse. Hall said during the news conference that the charges, the product of an investigation that lasted more than two years, are not the ones for which the U.S Attorney’s Office was granted a search warrant when Hunter’s home and law office were searched at 3 a.m. on June 9, 1995, by federal authorities who were looking for evidence supporting the allegations that Hunter laundered money from drug trafficking. That allegation was contained in affidavits filed before the search. Hunter, however, has not been charged with that offense. “There was not a basis for the underlying investigation,” Hall said. “…The charges are what they are and we entered a full-force not guilty.” Hunter’s wife, April Hensel, read a letter, dated Sunday, to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, in which Hensel asks Reno to investigate “the manner in which the matter of my husband has been handled by the United States Attorney’s office and the Drug Enforcement Administration.” Reading from the letter to Reno, Hensel said the indictment against her husband is a “face saving move by my government, taken after the investigation failed to produce evidence that would support the original charges and after the government decided it would not admit its mistake in light of the media attention that had been given to this case.” Assistant U.S Attorney James Gelber, who also [end of third column] [start of fourth column] sat in during yesterday’s arraignment hearing, deferred all questions to U.S. Attorney Charles Tetzlaff, who did not attend the arraignment, but did sign the indictment. In a brief interview outside his office in the same federal building after the arraignment, Tetzlaff said he would not comment on “why we bring charges and why we do not bring charges.” Tetzlaff also declined to comment on the specifics of the case, or what Hunter allegedly did with the money the government says he misappropriated. “The evidence will reflect the exact dollar amount used for the benefit of Mr. Hunter,” Tetzlaff said. In interviews last week, Tetzlaff said the indictment alleges a complex shuffling of money where trust fund accounts were “commingled” and embezzled for Hunter’s personal benefit. Yesterday, Tetzlaff said the “most (clients) have been repaid,” but declined to say how many people may have lost money or how much money is missing. “The system will do it’s job,” Tetzlaff said. In response to questions from the media, Tetzlaff said he would not comment on whether Reno, who was in Burlington Saturday to help the Vermont State Police celebrate its 50th anniversary, was consulted regarding the Hunter case and whether she had input on which charges were filed against Hunter. “I would have no comment on how we do things here procedurally,” Tetzlaff said. [end of 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. Ryan, Briana 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 Hunter: 'Not Guilty' 11 Times Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ballam, Ed Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Valley News Newspaper Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-07-15 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 Subject The topic of the resource Mail fraud Description An account of the resource William A. Hunter is charged with 10 counts of mail fraud and 1 count of bankruptcy fraud. Hunter pleads not guilty to all charges. Hunter's lawyer, Peter Hall, argues that these charges are being brought because the U.S. District attorney's office failed to find evidence that Hunter laundered money relating to drug trafficking. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Burlington Mail Fraud William A. Hunter https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/f109597cf939393aeebb75be9776f65e.jpg c970aa4b79480671e595395349892853 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/2f75edf242a23d6c6c5314554eb81e98.jpg 1925f4cfcc14f1a0b8041c83d0296d25 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 CAVENDISH- Friends and colleagues of Cavendish Lawyer William Hunter reacted with surprise, and some with indignation, Wednesday to news federal prosecutors had charged him with 11 counts of fraud. “I think the guy is a great guy, to tell you the truth,” said Steven Sysko, a North Springfield resident and active Democrat who knows Hunter from the lawyer’s days as a state legislator for Windsor County. “They have an indictment, but I don’t think it will hold water, knowing the guy from way back.” Hunter, a former state senator and Rhodes Scholar, was indicted Tuesday on 10 counts of mail fraud and one count of bankruptcy fraud after a two-year investigation into his legal and financial dealings. The indictment alleged that Hunter between 1993 and 1996 embezzled “tens of thousands of dollars” from clients and trusts, loaning the money to other clients and covering up previous allegedly improper financial transactions. The probe started in June 1995, when Windsor drug dealer Frank Sargent Jr. claimed that Hunter had helped him launder drug money. Among numerous charges in the indictment, Hunter allegedly loaned Sargent $19,000, and received $5,000 in interest in return for the 90-day loan, when he knew Sargent was dealing drugs, according to prosecutors. But Hunter, who all along has denied knowledge of Sargent’s drug dealing, was not charged with participation in any drug activity, and says he believed the money was being used to renovate affordable housing. He also denied receiving $5,000 from Sargent. Several lawyers questioned why the mail fraud charges would be brought after a lengthy investigation into alleged drug money. “After all that work, and after all this focus on drugs, it seems peculiar,” said Rutland lawyer Herbert Ogden Jr. “It strikes me as somewhat small potatoes.” Ogden last year unsuccessfully sued Hunter on behalf of a client in a malpractice case, and has now filed an appeal in the case with the Vermont Supreme Court. Vermont Law Professor Michael [next page] Mello, who has publicly supported Hunter in a separate Professional Conduct Board inquiry into Hunter’s law practice, criticized the indictment and called it an “outrage.” “You put any busy litigator under a 25-month microscope … under that these guys put Will Hunter under, and you’re going to find some irregularities,” Mello said. “This is all they came up with, after 25 months? I thought that this was a drug laundering case.” U.S. Attorney Charles Tetzlaff declined to comment on reaction to the indictment. Others said they were surprised by the indictment because of their knowledge of Hunter, who is known for taking on indigent clients and difficult cases. “I like Will real well. It’s hard for me to believe that these charges are true,” said William Donahue, a lawyer in White River Junction and a former Windsor County deputy state’s attorney. Hunter has admitted that he made [next page] “mistakes” in loaning money to clients but says he did not profit personally. Hunter also claims that none of his clients wound up losing money. But several lawyers noted that Hunter may have violated a serious fiduciary duty if the charges that he loaned out and otherwise mishandled clients’ money are true. “Even if they put it all back, even if they didn’t make any money on it, you can’t do it. It’s a sacred trust,” Donahue said. And Jerome O’Neill, a former federal prosecutor who has been in private practice in Burlington for 16 years, said Hunter’s statements that he did not profit and had no criminal intent to defraud his clients were not uncommon in such cases. “That’s always the defense in [next page] fraud cases,” said O’Neill, who said he did not know whether the charges against Hunter were true. “Because they paid the money back does not mean that there was not an intent to defraud.” O’Neill also said he believed prosecutors were acting in good faith in bringing the indictment. “My take on it is that the people in the U.S. Attorney’s office are conscientious. They would not have sought the indictment unless they believed that they could get a conviction … because if he’s acquitted, it’s embarrassing,” O’Neill said. “They are not going to drop this case two months from now. This case is going to get tried.” Hunter is slated to be arraigned in federal court in Burlington on Monday afternoon. 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. Dunnigan, Delaney 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 Hunter Indictment Greeted With Skepticism Subject The topic of the resource Embezzlement Description An account of the resource Newspaper article describing the reaction to William Hunter's indictment during the embezzlement hearing. A few of Hunter's colleagues' opinions on the trial are quoted. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gregg, John Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Gregg, John. “Hunter Indictment Greeted with Skepticism.” Rutland Daily Herald, July 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 1997-07-10 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 Cavendish, VT https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/99ff48b52b0718c2ffc55cc2d595bbae.jpg d83ae450271b7918294befd23a7d85af https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/5f08db3e6bab0ba288f5243d4a3b2a9c.jpg 2baee2b0d83068e7d877c31d0b1c7e32 https://hist299.umwhistory.org/files/original/c7d19c1fd9bafe6ba1596f396b4ddfb4.jpg 3aad7d84dd3fc215a4216f7fc3118ca7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael A. Mello Papers, Series 1 News Clippings, Binder 4 Text Text Any textual data included in the document [Title] Death Penalty Not one, but two irreconcilable differences of opinion concern the death penalty in America. The first is the question of whether the death penalty is morally permissible. In the twentieth century more delicate consciences have arisen which judge the death penalty immoral, despite the universal practice of mankind in prior centuries, and general agreement among older moralists. Still many thinkers find the death penalty morally acceptable for heinous crimes by dangerous thugs; and the American people are overwhelmingly in favor of capital punishment. I may remark parenthetically that, apart from the intellectual classes, such opposition to the existing death penalty seems to be motivated by the ugliness of all present methods of execution. It would be interesting to note the effect on public opinion if any state should begin to execute by use of an oxygen-free nitrogen chamber. Since nitrogen is a major component of air the victim notices no unpleasing odor, and, since the victim continues to exhale normally, the carbon dioxide does not build up in the blood so that no need for breath is felt prior to loss of consciousness. Such an approach would seem to mitigate some of the negative reaction to execution methods expressed in the propaganda of death penalty opponents. The second difference of opinion, although puzzling to some, concerns how the Constitution can be interpreted to absolutely forbid the death penalty when it specifically refers to “capital cases” and the “jeopardy of life or limb.” It would seem to some that theoreticians capable of such a jump could also find ways to justify quartering soldiers in private homes. Among the absolute opponents of the death penalty on both moral and constitutional grounds were two former supreme court justices, Brennan and Marshall. In the face of solid court majorities supporting the constitutionality of capital punishment, these two persisted for years dissenting in every capital case that reached the court, even filing dissents to the denial of certiorari. [End of page] As did the subjects of this book, also the author, Professor Mello (who has been counsel in more than fifty death penalty cases) wholeheartedly opposes the death penalty on both moral and Constitutional grounds. He makes no attempt at an extensive explication of the opposing arguments to either of these questions. Nor does he attempt to provide a detailed history of death penalty cases since Furman v. Georgia. His book is a salute to justices Brennan and Marshall; and with them it rejects the case law for an absolutist approach. To the extent that the author confronts public support for executions he suggests, like Justice Marshall, that the moral position would triumph if the public were better informed. He also repeatedly brings up the popular assumption that the death penalty is applied in a racially discriminatory manner. This popular belief cannot be maintained when variables other than race are added to simplistic studies. (See “Execution by Quote?” in THE PUBLIC INTEREST, no. 116, Summer 1994 p.3). There is no hint given that this conclusion may be questionable. Professor Mello’s interesting and varies study discusses the lives of justices Brennan and Marshall, the origins and history of dissenting opinions in the United States Supreme Court, the justification of the persistent unavailing dissents under varied theories of jurisprudence and finally the treatment of death penalty cases in the Supreme Court and the dissenters themselves. In each of these segments, except perhaps the last, the author demonstrates an admirable gift for concise and clear summarization. For a reader who has not read a full length biography of either, the brief and excellent biographical essays on justices Brennan and Marshall provide interesting anecdotes about their appointments. It is well-known that Eisenhower described Brennan as his worst mistake. Mello [End of column] explains how that mistake occurred when both the President and his Attorney General, Brownell, assumed that Brennan was ideologically in tune with Arthur Vanderbilt, Chief Justice of New Jersey. In fact, while Brennan and Vanderbilt shared an interest in court reform, on political questions they were far apart. Marshall’s appointment to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is even more interesting since it involved a deal whereby Mississippi’s Senator Eastland agreed to advance Kennedy’s appointment of Marshall in return for an appointment to the Fifth Circuit of Herold Cox, and outspoken racist and a great embarrassment to the federal judiciary. Following the biographies, Mello provides an account of the practice instituted by John Marshall of promulgating an opinion of the Court, rather than having the Justices give their opinions seriatim. The official opinion created the need for dissents. Brief, useful histories of the most prominent dissenters stop with Harlan on the Warren Court. Mello’s brief biographical essays and histories serve as background study in his summary of jurisprudential theories, before he settles down to a rather dry analysis of the actual dissents by Brennan and Marshall. This section makes the interesting point that the seemingly pointless dissents to denial of certiorari were often effective messages to the lawyers below as to what points might be raised successfully in the future. The author’s political position is always in evidence, and leads to some overstatement. Marshall is said to have resigned from a court whose “decisions invariably would increase the misery of Blacks, the poor, and the uneducated.” Lewis Powell is off-handedly described as a [End of page] “cynical hack”; and Clarence Thomas is attacked at greater length for no reason germane to the book. In law professor fashion the text (210 pages) is supported by voluminous footnotes (110) pages. There is a combined index and table of cases. The book is suitable for all academic collections acquiring a broad range of materials on legal history, the Supreme Court or the death penalty. It is not intended to be useful in practice. [End of article] Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Student Editor of the Digital Item Dickinson, Terra Contributor of the Digital Item Person submitting the digital item to the collection. Underwood, Drew Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Death Penalty Description An account of the resource A review of Michael Mello's book: Against the Death Penalty. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lynch, Michael J. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available HIST 298, University of Mary Washington Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 3 JPGs 300 DPI Language A language of the resource English Michael Mello Supreme Court