Back Issues
INDIANA ABOLITIONIST
Quarterly Newsletter of the Indiana Information
Center on the Abolition of Capital Punishment
Winter 2007 Volume 7
Number 1
NORMAN TIMBERLAKE EXECUTION SET FOR JANUARY 19TH
As of this writing, Norman Timberlake’s execution is still set for January 19th just after midnight, Michigan City time, 1 am Indianapolis time.
Mr. Timberlake was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of Indiana state trooper Michael E. Greene. Mr. Timberlake’s
attorneys have asked the federal courts to stay his execution on several grounds: that Indiana’s lethal injection procedure constitutes cruel and
unusual punishment (see article below) and that his mental illness renders him incompetent to be executed. As the end of Mr.Timberlake’s legal appeals drew near, the Indiana Supreme Court appointed a psychiatrist to examine him. The psychiatrist’s report discussed Mr. Timberlake’s
mental illness at length, detailing his hallucinations and delusions, including his belief that he is under the control of a machine which is torturing him.
Despite the abundant and uncontested evidence of Mr. Timberlake’s mental illness, the psychiatrist concluded that he did not meet the extremely low
standard for competency: that he knew the state was going to kill him and the public reason why. The Indiana Supreme Court agreed with the psychiatrist’s conclusion, by a 3-2 vote, and went ahead with scheduling Mr. Timberlake’s execution. On January 5, 2007, the US Supreme Court agreed to consider a case with facts similar to Mr. Timberlake’s. Texas death row prisoner Scott Louis Panetti understands he will be killed for committing murder, but he is also delusional and believes he will be executed by evil forces for preaching the gospel. Similarly, Norman Timberlake believes the real reason he’s being executed is to keep the existence of “the machine” secret. A ruling in Mr. Panetti’s case would have a direct bearing on Mr. Timberlake’s case, so Mr. Timberlake’s attorneys have asked the federal courts to stay his execution until the Supreme Court decides Mr. Panetti’s case. Also, here in Indiana, State Senator Anita Bowser has introduced a bill prohibiting execution of the mentally ill.
If the courts do not stay Mr. Timberlake’s execution, IICACP asks all abolitionists to write Governor Daniels to ask him to grant Mr. Timberlake clemency. There are at least two reasons for clemency: potential problems with lethal injection itself and Mr. Timberlake’s serious mental illness. Does Indiana really want to kill a severely mentally ill man just as the Indiana legislature and the US Supreme Court may outlaw killing the mentally ill? Write Governor Daniels at:
Governor Mitch Daniels, Statehouse,
Indianapolis, 46204-2797
or e-mail him by going to the state website
While all of us hope and pray that Mr. Timberlake’s execution will be stopped, it may proceed. If it does, there will be a number of vigils around the
state sponsored jointly by IICACP and other abolitionist groups. All vigils will be on the evening of January 18th. Marti Pizzini, IICACP board
member and Education Coordinator for the Duneland Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, offers the following thoughts on why vigils matter:
Purposes of a vigil
a. Bear witness to the wrongfulness and injustice of the death penalty
b. Assure that the public is aware that an execution is taking place
c. Express support for:
-the person being executed
-the family of the executed
-the family of the victim
-the other prisoners
-prison staff
-communication of the abolitionist position to news
media and others
-support and strengthen the abolitionist community
The Duneland Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s Vigil for Norman Timberlake will be in the parking lot next to the State Prison in Michigan City (times are for Michigan City time, 1 hour behind Indianapolis):
8:00 Lighting of vigil candles
8:05 Abolitionists’ "Quaker Meeting": participants offer thoughts, prayers, views
8:30 Drum Litany
8:40 Protest march with signs. Muffled drums
9:00 Drum Litany
9:30 "For whom the Bell Tolls" Tolling of bells
9:50 Protest march with muffled drums
10:30 Abolition songs
12:00 Silent vigil at prison gates
Amnesty International and the Indianapolis Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty will hold a vigil at the
governor’s mansion on the corner of 46th and Meridian Streets in Indianapolis from 5:00 to 6:30 pm and
again from 10 pm to 1:15 am.
The Bloomington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s vigil will be in Bloomington at the Monroe County Courthouse from midnight to 1:15 am and include the following:
-What do we know about Norman Timberlake--who is he, how did he come to be on death row;
-Brief reflections on why capital punishment should be abolished;
-A call for holding in our hearts all those who are a part of the execution, from the victim’s family, to the person being executed, from the warden to the cook, from Mr. Timberlake’s fellow death row inmates to all of us who pay taxes
-Final half hour of silence: we stand silently, prayerfully, thoughtfully as witnesses to and in protest of the execution of Norman Timberlake.
-At 1:01 am (12:01 Michigan City time), Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Purdue’s Pax Christi group will hold a vigil beginning at 5:30 pm in front of St. Thomas Aquinas
Catholic Center, 535 State Street, West Lafayette. St. Tom’s will also participate in the tolling of the bells.
MORATORIUM REPORT
by Glenda Breeden, BCADP Abolitionists of Indiana,
There are several reasons to make the Indiana Moratorium Initiative a priority as we begin this new year. Most of the “reasons” live on death row at either Michigan City or Terre Haute, and the more we drag along on this issue, the more likely they are to be killed in our names, with our tax dollars. We are convinced that the quickest way to stop the killing poisons from being injected into these human beings is to convince our legislators to put a moratorium in place as soon as possible.
Lethal injection has become a major human rights issue in many states, especially since the botched Florida execution last month. It’s been widely
reported on TV, radio, and in the papers, so the time is ripe to confront our neighbors, fellow church members, colleagues, and city councils with the idea of moratorium. Most of the people on death row suffer from mental illness. Since there is not yet a mandate in place to disallow the execution of the mentally ill, we need to call for a moratorium to put that much needed barrier in place.
And, last and of utmost importance, Norman Timberlake at Michigan City and Bruce Webster at Terre Haute are scheduled to be executed in January and March, respectively. Each time one of our brothers is given an execution date, we are reminded that we need to put the brakes on these killing machines at both the state and federal level immediately.
We need to get moving, folks. The reasons are clear. You can download the Indiana Moratorium Resolution from the IICACP website, or from EJUSA if you are interested in resolutions for a particular church or city council. The resolution spells out clearly who to send copies to after your organization signs them, and asks that you send a copy to BCADP so that we can keep an Indiana Tally. Each signed resolution puts a little more muscle into our call for an end to capital punishment in Indiana. We need your
help. Thank you.
(You may contact Glenda at breeden@ccrtc.com)
LETHAL INJECTION MORATORIUM NOW!
by Chris Hitz-Bradley, IICACP President
The past year has seen a number of developments concerning the use of lethal injection as a means of execution. (See Lethal Injection Developments,
below.) These developments add to growing concerns that lethal injection does not live up to its claim of a humane death. Despite these continuing questions about lethal injection, Indiana has scheduled Norman Timberlake’s execution by lethal injection for January 19, 2007. IICACP has called on Governor Daniels to halt all executions, including Mr. Timberlake’s, and appoint an independent commission to investigate whether Indiana’s use of lethal injection may be inflicting excruciating pain on our fellow citizens. Indiana had problems with the use of lethal injection with the very first men it used the procedure on. On July 18, 1996, Tommie Smith was the first man Indiana executed by lethal injection. Mr. Smith’s executioners jabbed his arm with needles trying to find a vein. They finally had to cut open his arm, in a procedure called a “cut-down,” to insert the needle.
Drugs began pumping into his veins 49 minutes after the process started and it was another 20 minutes before he was declared dead. There were also problems with the next man who faced lethal injection, Gary Burris, on November 20, 1997. After the first drugs were injected, Mr. Burris began choking and spitting. For reasons the state has never explained to anyone’s satisfaction, Mr. Burris’ execution took an extraordinaryly long time.
At this moment, it is impossible to say whether there have been the same problems with Indiana’s implementation of lethal injection as there have been elsewhere. The man being executed is tightly strapped down to a gurney, with restraints across his chest,
legs and arms. The first drug given is a very short-acting sedative that puts the man to sleep and the second drug paralyzes him. The final drug is a
poison which causes an extreme burning sensation as it enters the veins and causes heart failure, with all of the pain associated with a heart attack. If there is some delay after the sedative is given, or the untrained prison staff gives too little of the short-acting sedative, the sedative can wear off. If
that happened, the man would be awake and able to feel the pain when the poison is injected into his veins.
However, the physical restraints and chemically-induced paralysis would prevent the man from reacting so it would be impossible to tell if he
were awake simply by looking at him. But, there is information available to help determine whether the man is awake. Tommie Smith underwent a
private autopsy and, beginning with Gary Burris’ execution, the Department of Correction began asking the local coroner to perform an autopsy on every man Indiana killed. An autopsy includes a toxicological examination of blood and other bodily fluids. The practice of routine autopsies ended in 2003, when Joe Trueblood challenged the practice and the state eventually stopped requesting them. However, the local coroner still orders toxicological examinations of blood and bodily fluids of the men killed. These examinations necessarily include testing for the blood
levels of the sedative. This is the same kind of information that formed the basis for a report by the British medical Journal, the Lancet. The Lancet
report reviewed the toxicological analysis from a number of executed men and concluded that in some instances the sedative had worn off and the executed men were awake at the time the poison was injected in their veins. Death penalty proponents have criticized the Lancet report, arguing that it did not take into account the continued deterioration of the sedative after the man dies. However, forensic pathologists and toxicologists routinely perform such analyses on homicide victims and have experience in taking such deterioration into account. Indiana has the toxicological reports for every man it has killed by lethal injection. A review of those reports by neutral experts would form the basis of an investigation into Indiana’s use of lethal injection. Lethal injection was introduced in Indiana as a supposedly painless, humane method of killing that would mollify critics of electrocution, which inflicted horrific pain that was obvious to anyone who saw it. It appears now, however, that all the change to lethal injection has done is to hide the pain and suffering behind a chemical mask. Most of Indiana’s lethal injection protocols are considered confidential
but we do know that they are very similar, if not identical, to the procedures in other states, such as Florida, where problems have occurred. When the State of Indiana seeks to kill one of its own citizens, it has a moral and legal obligation to do so in a manner that is consistent with the intent of its own Constitution and laws as well as that of the U.S. Constitution. IICACP, of course, opposes all executions, but even death penalty supporters should be shocked at the possibility that Indiana may be torturing our fellow citizens to death. Governor Daniels has the legal authority to stay any execution and to order an investigation into Indiana’s lethal injection procedures. He can start this process by stopping Norman Timberlake’s execution.
DEATH PENALTY NEWS
(Most of the information for Death Penalty News is from Paula Sites’ columns published in the Indiana Defender, monthly publication of the Indiana Public Defender Council, which Paula is Assistant Executive Director of. Paula generously allows us to use her articles for the Indiana Abolitionist.)
RECENT LETHAL INJECTION DEVELOPMENTS
FLORIDA: On December 13, 2006, Florida badly botched the lethal injection of Angel Diaz. Witnesses reported that Mr. Diaz was still moving long after after the first injection. He squinted his eyes and tightened his jaw as if in pain; he gasped for air for 11 minutes; his body shuddered and he was grimacing, blinking, licking his lips, blowing and appearing to mouth words. 26 minutes into the execution, Mr. Diaz’s body suddenly jolted. His executioners administered a second dose of drugs and he died 34 minutes after the process began. A medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Mr. Diaz concluded that the needles used to give the drugs missed the veins and instead went into the flesh of Mr. Diaz’s arms. The medical examiner said that the chemicals caused a 12-inch chemical burn on Mr. Diaz’s right arm and an 11-inch chemical burn on his left arm
On December 15th, Florida Governor Jeb Bush suspended all executions in response to the medical examiner’s report and appointed a commission to examine Florida’s lethal injection protocols. In a cruel irony, Mr. Diaz had challenged Florida’s execution procedures as cruel and unusual punishment. As with Indiana, Florida adopted lethal injection as a “humane” alternative to the electric chair, which caused several gruesome deaths in Florida, including two in which the executed man’s head caught fire.
CALIFORNIA: On December 15, 2006, a federal district court in San Jose, California found that California’s lethal injection protocols violated the US Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The court criticized state workers involved in the lethal injection process for a "pervasive lack of professionalism,” and noted numerous problems including: inconsistent and unreliable screening of execution team members; poorly trained staff;
inconsistent and unreliable record keeping; improper mixing, preparation and administration of drugs; overcrowded conditions; and poorly designed
facilities. The court gave the state 30 days to come up with a plan to correct the problems. California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said his administration would do what was necessary to address the court’s concerns.
MARYLAND: On December 19, 2006, Maryland's highest court ordered the state to open its lethal injection procedures to public input. Although a technical procedural ruling based on Maryland’s Administrative Procedures Act, the decision could lead to changes in how Maryland kills condemned men. The state court ruling concerned the same prisoner whose challenge to lethal injection in federal court caused the court to
effectively impose a moratorium while it considers his claims.
MISSOURI: In June, in a lawsuit challenging Missouri’s lethal injection protocol, a federal court ordered the state to obtain the services of a board
certified anesthesiologist to select the injection site and, if not personally inject the drugs, at least oversee prison staff who do so, and to also monitor
the level of anesthesia. The state had been unable to find a doctor by the court’s July 15th deadline. As part of its response to the lawsuit, Missouri proposed new lethal injection procedures and standards in writing, instead of leaving them to the discretion of prison officials.
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANESTHESIOLOGISTS’ POSITION ON LETHAL INJECTION
Court orders such as the one issued in Missouri prompted a statement from Dr. Orin F. Guidry, president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). Dr. Guidry noted that the ASA had voted to support the American Medical Association’s ban on
doctors participating in executions. The AMA ban states “A physician ... should not be a participant in a legally authorized execution,” and defines
participation to include “selecting injection sites; starting intravenous lines as a port for a lethal injection device; prescribing, preparing,
administering, or supervising injection drugs or their doses or types; inspecting, testing, or maintaining lethal injection devices; and consulting with or
supervising lethal injection personnel.” Dr. Guidry said that an anesthesiologist complying with a court order such as the one issued in Missouri would violate the AMA position which ASA adopted. Dr. Guidry said, “The fact that problems are surfacing is not our dilemma. The legal system has painted itself into this corner and it is not our obligation to get it out.”
REQUIEM FOR MISTER MOORE
by Steve Schutte, IICACP board member
Richard Moore, who spent more time on Indiana's death row than any other person, died on December 23, 2006, of natural causes. Mr. Moore was originally sentenced to death in 1980 following his guilty pleas to the 1979 murders of his ex-wife, Rhonda, her father John Caldwell, and Indianapolis Police Officer Gerald Griffin. After the Indiana Supreme Court affirmed Mr. Moore's conviction and sentence, he petitioned for
post-conviction relief. In 1995, the post-conviction court found Mr. Moore’s attorney was ineffective in his representation and vacated Mr. Moore’s guilty pleas and death sentence. The Indiana Supreme Court later reinstated the guilty pleas but upheld the sentence reversal. Mr. Moore returned to the trial court for resentencing and was sentenced to death, again. The Supreme Court affirmed the death sentence. At the time of his death, Moore was seeking relief in the federal courts. For the past decade, Mr. Moore had been unable to fully care for himself. Various men from Indiana's
death row, along with some prison guards, watched over him and helped him cope with day-to-day life. Prisoner and guard alike showed respect for his age and his outlook by referring to him as "Mr. Moore." The politics, morality, and fairness of the death penalty aside, Mr. Moore teaches us all an important lesson about it in practice. The 75 year old man who died last month barely resembled the man who, over a quarter of a century ago, committed three murders. He changed in many ways, of course. Executing him at this time would have been an exercise in pure power
and vindictiveness, achieving nothing of any jurisprudential value. Another important lesson is the one we are all taught about the kind of men who wind up on death row. Far from the cruel, vicious, selfish animals we are encouraged to view them as, these men cared deeply for Mr. Moore.
They looked out for him, not because of anything they stood to gain from it, but because a fellow human needed their help and compassion. We can
all benefit from following their example.
&The Death of Innocents”--An Abolitionist Book Review
by Lorraine Hitz-Bradley, IICACP member
(Editor’s note: Although “Death of Innocents” was published in 2005, there are few reviews from an abolitionist perspective. Therefore, we offer this
one from an IICACP member.)
Sister Helen Prejean, not content to rest on her laurels as a result of Dead Man Walking, has written another eloquent and compelling must-read for all abolitionists. If you have yearned for a book to hand to those who “just don’t get it,” this is it. The title of this book appears to be a simple
statement that innocent people have been wrongfully convicted and executed, and indeed Sr. Helen tells of two such men - Dobie Gillis Williams and Joseph O’Dell. This is also the tale of Sr. Helen’s loss of innocent faith in our legal system, shattered by incompetent lawyers, the political aims of
prosecutors, the inflexibility of the legal system, and the constraints of clemency. She unhesitatingly reveals her own ignorance of the impact of race and poverty, which she must face when she chooses to move out of the comfortable middle-class white world of Louisiana and into one of the poorest of New Orleans’ neighborhoods.
Sr. Helen combines moral outrage and meticulous scholarship in scrutinizing the historical, religious and cultural justifications for the death penalty.
No one is spared her scathing examination, including the judicial system, the very-Catholic Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (a friend of Sr. Helen’s brother), and George W. Bush, who presided over more executions than any governor in U.S. history. She presents stark evidence of the death penalty’s racially disproportionate application; the failures of the legal system’s attempts to impose standards for application to “the worst of the worst”, and how crass political machinations often prevent the application of mercy in the clemency process. She wonders, almost in passing, at the propriety of rehabilitating a prisoner, only to execute that rehabilitated person. Sr. Helen also celebrates those in the legal system who get it right, notably Indiana attorney Bob Hill. Rather than proclaiming innocence in his representation of an Indiana man charged in the videotaped murder of a convenience store clerk, Bob Hill’s detailed mitigation evidence prevented Jeremy Gross from receiving the death penalty. Ultimately, regardless of innocence or guilt, Sr. Helen tells us that the death penalty is wrong. That is why it seems so fitting that I write these words on the morning that the world “celebrates” the execution of Saddam Hussein. I know of no one who thinks that Saddam Hussein was “innocent” of the crimes for which
he hung. Sr. Helen shows us that a government-sanctioned killing asserts that the value of one life is less than another - the same crime for
which the condemned is executed. She expresses this as truth that transcends the barriers of faith and society. We live in a world that rejoices at the death of a man. However evil he may have been, the claim of moral superiority by a government, by which it asserts the right to take or give life, is ultimately morally erosive.
When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been murderers and tyrants, and for a time they can seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of this always. ~
Mohandas Gandhi
COMING EVENTS
January 23: Sister Helen Prejean will speak at 7 pm at the
Anderson City Building Auditorium,
120 E. 8th St., Anderson (corner of 8th and Central downtown Anderson).
Ample parking nearby. Sister Helen will also speak the same day at 10 am,
at Reardon Auditorium, 1100 E. 5th St., Anderson University in Anderson.
Both addresses are sponsored by St. Mary's Anderson Social Justice Committee.
February 28: Celebrate Life, statehouse rotunda, 4:30 pm;
to commemorate Michigan becoming the first state to abolish the death penalty and to celebrate the positive aspects of the past year.
Amnesty International will present its Indiana Abolitionist of the Year award; speakers include David Kaczynski; sponsored by AI, Indianapolis Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and IICACP.
In February and March, 2007, IICACP, Law Students Against Capital Punishment, Butler University, IU-Indy
Law School and the Christian Theological Seminary will present a series of events examining the death penalty.
In Our Names: A Community Conversation on the Death Penalty
February 8: “Doesn’t the Bible Support the Death Penalty?” a discussion with CTS professors Wilma Bailey and Scott Seay; 1 to 2 pm, Room 122 CTS
February 21: former Mississippi death row warden Donald Cabana will speak at 7:30 pm in Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall, Butler University
February 22: the opera “In the Penal Colony” at 7:30 pm, Young & Laramore Bldng. 407 N. Fulton St.
February 23: Oxford-style debate on the death penalty moderated by Butler University President Dr. Bobby Fong; pro, attorney Thomas Farlow; con, state representative Dr. David Orentlicher; 7:30 pm, Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall, Butler University
February 24: the opera “In the Penal Colony” at 7:30 pm, Young & Laramore Bldng. 407 N. Fulton St.
February 25: the opera “In the Penal Colony” at 7:30 pm, Young & Laramore Bldng. 407 N. Fulton St.
February 26: film and discussion: “The Innocent,” film about death row prisoners who were exonerated, 7pm, Shelton Auditorium, CTS
February 27: film: “In Cold Blood” 7 pm, Shelton Auditorium, CTS
February 28: speaker: David Kaczynski, brother of Unibomber Ted Kaczynski and executive director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty; 7:30 pm, Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall, Butler University
March 1: speaker: attorney Robert Hammerle, 12:45 to 2 pm, IU-Indy Law School
March 1: film: “The Exonerated” 7 pm, Shelton Auditorium CTS
March 2: discussion with Marion County Superior Court Judge David Shaheed, Rabbi Dennis Sasso, CTS professors Wilma Bailey and Scott Seay; 12:45 to 2 pm, the Common Room at CTS
IICACP will participate in a course at Christian Theological Seminary
On the first 4 Wednesdays in May, 2007, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm the Christian Theological Seminary will offer a course on the death penalty through its Life-Long Learning Institute. Entitled “The Death Penalty: A Critical Examination,” the class will be convened by IICACP board members Ed Towne, Steve Schutte and Chris Hitz-Bradley. The general framework for each two hour class will be a one hour panel presentation of experts
in the area examined followed by class discussion. Tuition is $50 per student. Details, such as room number and a suggested reading list, will be provided as soon as they become available and should be published in the next edition of the Abolitionist. As of this writing, most speakers have not been confirmed but the topics for each class are the following:
May 2: topics: historical & legal rationale for the death penalty and how it’s practiced;
confirmed speakers: Paula Sites, Assistant Executive Director of the Indiana Public Defender Council;
Tom Hinesley, Chief Deputy to the Indiana Public Defender and supervisor of that office’s capital unit
May 9: topic: affects of the death penalty on everyone involved in the process;
confirmed speaker: Deacon Mal Lunsford who ministers to men on Indiana’s death row.
May 16: topic: alternatives to the death penalty, lethal injection, prison life;
confirmed speakers: Angie Grogan, president of Law Students Against Capital Punishment,
Steve Schutte, Asst. Chief Deputy of the Indiana Public Defender’s capital unit
May 23: topics: activism-what works, how religio-ethical values motive activists, affect of
public opinion on policy confirmed speaker: Glenn Tebbe, Executive Director of the Indiana Catholic Conference
