Legislative Alert - 2 Year Moratorium on Death Penalty
| Friends,
I received this legislative alert from the Diocese of Trenton by way of the NJ Catholic Conference, the legislative arm of the NJ Bishops. Thank you for all you do for life and justice! Advent Blessings, Lori Lori La Plante Part-Time Pastoral Associate St. Gregory the Great (609)587-1131x249 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Friends, I have important information to share, as well as a vitally urgent request. Yesterday, Acting Governor Richard Codey announced his support for legislation that would impose a two year moratorium while the capital punishment system is comprehensively studied. The Star Ledger article and NJADP's response can be found below this email. In another development, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected death row inmate John Martini's request for appeal. Meanwhile, as you know, the moratorium on NJ executions that was imposed by the Appellate Court as a result of NJADP's legal challenge to the state's regulations on lethal injection is still in place. The NJ Department of Corrections published new draft regulations in an attempt to lift the moratorium and public hearings on those draft regulations will be held sometime next year. There has never been a more critical moment to make your voice heard. Here is what to do: Contact: Governor Richard Codey Contact: Your State legislators. Please let us know if you receive any feedback from the Governor or your legislators. As always, thank you for your support. We would not be at this moment without you. In peace, Celeste Codey supports death penalty moratorium during new study Senate measure likely to impose two-year hold on executions as
death row inmate loses another appeal Codey, who is also Senate president, called for the moratorium yesterday as he stalled a Senate vote on a bill that would have created a 13-member death penalty study commission. Such an action could stop any executions from being carried out for up to two years after the bill is signed. "The governor does not think it makes sense to do a study without a moratorium," said Kelley Heck, a spokeswoman for Codey. "So he does support a moratorium right now, and he supports it for 18 months to two years." New Jersey has not executed anyone in 41 years, and capital punishment is already on hold as the Department of Corrections devises new lethal injection rules. The death row inmate who has exhausted the most capital punishment appeals -- convicted murderer John Martini -- lost another round in court yesterday when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his case. The bill would create a commission to determine whether the death penalty is consistent with "evolving standards of decency," whether it is discriminatory and whether it is worth its cost, both in money for lawyers and the risk of executing an innocent defendant. Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer), the sponsor, said Codey took her aside yesterday and told her he wanted to add a ban on executions while the panel studies the death penalty system, and she readily agreed. As Senate president, Codey decides which bills come up for a vote. "If we're going to study the death penalty, I think we should not allow anyone to be executed until the report is in," Turner said. Last year, a bill to create a study commission without blocking any executions passed the Legislature but was vetoed by then-Gov. James E. McGreevey, who said capital punishment had been "continuously studied in painstaking detail." Just hours before yesterday's Senate session, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it had declined to hear Martini's latest appeal. While he is considered the inmate closest to lethal injection, Martini's execution is not imminent. He still has a legal challenge to his death sentence pending in state court, and the Department of Corrections is temporarily blocked from carrying out executions until it adopts new regulations for performing a lethal injection. Martini was sentenced to die in 1991 for kidnapping and murdering Fair Lawn businessman Irving Flax. At 74, he is older than any of the 10 other men on New Jersey's death row. In 1999, after saying he would rather die than spend his life in prison, Martini came within five weeks of execution before he changed his mind and pursued his legal appeals. Yesterday, without comment, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a ruling by a federal appeals court in Philadelphia upholding Martini's death sentence. "We're disappointed," Tom Rosenthal, a spokesman for the Office of the Public Defender said, adding that the office "will actively pursue and investigate all available options in the effort to save the life of our client." Rosenthal said Martini's public defenders filed a petition for post-conviction relief -- Martini's third -- in state court last week, contending that the jury that condemned him was improperly instructed in the law. John Hagerty, a spokesman for the state Division of Criminal Justice, said, "We believe the court has previously ruled on this issue and we will request a quick and expeditious rejection of this 11th-hour request." But Hagerty said no execution can be performed until the state adopts valid regulations for carrying one out, and "the timeframe on that is an unknown factor." Last February, a state appeals court struck down the old regulations as "arbitrary" because they shrouded executions in secrecy and made no provision for halting one once it started, even if a last-minute reprieve came. The Department of Corrections proposed revised regulations in September but has gotten so many comments on them -- more than 100 -- that it is planning to hold a public hearing in early February, said Matt Schuman, a spokesman for the department. Copyright 2004 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DEATH PENALTY OPPONENTS HAIL CODEY'S Trenton -- New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NJADP), a statewide organization of more than 10,000 members, today (Tues. Dec. 7) announced support for a death penalty moratorium, proposed yesterday by Acting Governor Richard Codey. Governor Codey also endorsed a comprehensive study of the state's capital punishment system, which NJADP has long advocated. "No execution should be carried out, when overwhelming evidence suggests that New Jersey's death penalty system is badly broken," said NJADP Director Celeste Fitzgerald. "A thorough review of the capital punishment system is clearly needed. We are grateful to the Governor for his leadership on this serious issue." Earlier Monday, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of 74-year-old John Martini, the New Jersey death row inmate closest to death by lethal injection. "Both the Legislature and the Judiciary - and now the Acting Governor - have called New Jersey's death penalty into question," Fitzgerald said. "Its only common sense that executions be stopped while this intensive review goes on." Last February, the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division, by unanimous decision, halted executions here, calling the state's regulations for lethal injection killings 'arbitrary and unreasonable'. That moratorium remains in effect. Fitzgerald noted that the 2003 Legislature overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill calling for a death penalty study, which was later vetoed by then-Governor James E. McGreevey on the last day of the legislative term. Since New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982, nearly 70
percent of all the state's capital sentences have been overturned for
serious error and, according to the Death Penalty Information Center in
Washington DC, since 1977, 117 Americans sentenced to death were later
discovered to be innocent and freed from death rows - roughly one for
every eight executed. According to a May 2002 Rutgers-Eagleton poll, sixty-six percent of New Jerseyans, including the majority of those who say they support the death penalty, support a moratorium and study. NJADP, which has campaigned since 1999 for an end to the death penalty, is core group of more than 200 New Jersey organizations comprising 120,000 members. For information, visit www.njadp.org or call 609-278-6719. ### Celeste Fitzgerald |