Disturbing update from Shawna

English Version of Documentary with Shawna Forde interview 2017

Here's a link to view the film: Voici le lien de la version anglaise :
Vimeo link : https://vimeo.com/243119201
Password : women#VA

Women on death row #Eng #Edith Paris

International Distribution #Edith Paris www.edithparis.com

vimeo.com

Arizona Statelines from The Wing

Warm greetings to everyone on both sides of the pond – I hope this finds you all in good spirits and that your friendships, both new and old, are going well. Thank you to everyone for your letters and emails; it is always good to hear from you.

I am sorry to say we lost one of our friends on the row – Albert Carreon died of an illness on 8th September aged 55. He had been on the row for 14 years. May he rest in peace now. My thoughts are with his penfriend at this difficult time.

Now an update on the legal case originally brought by a coalition of news organisations in 2014, which has received its final ruling: Arizona does not have to reveal who provides its execution drugs or divulge the qualifications of people who carry out executions. U.S. District Judge Snow ruled the media outlets didn't show they had a First Amendment right to know the suppliers of lethal injection drugs and showed concern that some drug suppliers would decline to do business with the state if their identities were not kept secret. However the media coalition has filed notice that it will appeal the ruling. (Sources: Associated Press & Arizona Republic)

I’m glad to say that hope has sprung up in another quarter though. A group of 20 former Arizona judges, prosecutors and legal experts are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an interesting new case brought by one of the guys on the row. If it decides to hear the case they will have to decide whether the state’s death penalty law is constitutional, but also whether the death penalty as a whole is. The lead lawyer on the case is former Obama administration acting solicitor general Neal Katyal, also known as the lead lawyer for Hawaii's challenge to President Trump's travel ban.

The primary argument of the case is that Arizona’s law doesn't do enough to narrow who is eligible for the death penalty. After the Supreme Court found the US death penalty unconstitutional in 1972, it brought it back 4 years later only as a result of new state laws that imposed new constraints. For example, Arizona’s new law required the finding of "aggravating" circumstances, which the court concluded would "direct and limit" who was eligible for execution "so as to minimize the risk of wholly arbitrary and capricious action." At that point there were just 6 aggravating factors that could make someone eligible for the death penalty. However 40 years later the law now lists 14 factors so that, far from the state limiting the application of the death penalty, it has instead expanded it. Indeed, so much so that in an 11 year period 99% of murder cases in Arizona were classed eligible for the death penalty. If the suit was successful Dale Baich, the assistant federal public defender, advises it could result in some death sentences being vacated.

The secondary aim is that the court should rule the death penalty unconstitutional nationwide under the Eighth Amendment's guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment. It makes three other key arguments in support of this larger aim: states can't give guidance that ensures only "the worst offenders" are sentenced to death; states can't enforce the death penalty without "ensnaring and putting to death the innocent" and decades spent on death row with "the remote but very real possibility of execution" is in itself a constitutional violation. First and foremost though - fingers crossed the Supreme Court accepts the case onto their docket. (Sources: BuzzFeed News, KJZZ Radio & Washington Examiner)

Finally, as indicated in my last Statelines, sadly executions are now legally possible again, but the state has still not filed with the Arizona Supreme Court for any execution warrants, in part because it has had difficulty obtaining drugs to perform the executions. The Arizona Department of Corrections has pledged to carry out further executions using the anaesthetic sodium thiopental or the barbiturate pentobarbital without adding paralytic drugs that could mask pain and suffering, however neither drug is available to prisons from U.S. pharmaceutical firms. The state has indicated it will continue looking for them overseas or have them made to order by compounding pharmacies. Hopefully their search will be a long one. (Source: Arizona Republic)

I wish you all good health and strength of spirit in the coming months.

LIndesay Mace

A personal note from Shawna, a real must read!

This moved me very much this morning.  So much so, I felt tears prickling the backs of my eyes.  We must always remember the potential for growth within all humans and strive to help them achieve it.  Kudos Anthony.  Shawna, you have made me so proud girl.