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Entertainment => Movies => Topic started by: tflon on January 23, 2005, 12:55:01 PM



Title: The Death Penalty, Schwarzenegger and Court TV movie
Post by: tflon on January 23, 2005, 12:55:01 PM
On January 19th of this year Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger allowed the
first death sentence to be served in three years, and the first under
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  That is almost copied straight from a
news site (because honestly if I hadn’t, there’s no way I’d have been
able to spell Arnie’s name!)

Anyway, I recently caught an ad for a movie on Court TV called The
Exonerated. It’s based on true stories of several people who spent
years on death row for crimes they didn’t commit. The original version
was a play which inspired my interest in the subject of the death
penalty. I specifically remember one guy who spent something like 20
years on death row before finally being cleared.

Now before someone jumps all over me: I’m not saying that the guy who
was just executed in California was innocent. But does anyone think
it’s acceptable that even one innocent person could be executed? I
think it’s about time this country joins the rest of the civilized
world and adopts a more humane approach. For those of you still on the
fence on this issue, I’d check out this movie, because if it’s anything
like the play the personal stories will astound you. I think it airs on
January 27 (but check courttv.com just in case I’m wrong). And if you
have thoughts on this issue, I’d like to hear them.


Title: Re:The Death Penalty, Schwarzenegger and Court TV movie
Post by: Kristi Ann on January 23, 2005, 01:26:36 PM
I won't jump all over ya, I can't *tee hee* ;D

Good Points and I understand. I was born and Raised in California, I lived there 40 years before moving to Oregon.

This is from my website Kristi Ann's Haven (http://ka7.proboards30.com), I posted this Last year... Sept. 22nd, 2004.

Read on...

With all the uproar about the Death Penalty.  My Questions are What are your Thoughts? Do you Agree with it? With all the DNA testing availble today, I think it's needed to truly test who is Guilty of wrong doings. Whom are we to Judge anyway, we are forgiven by God through His Son Jesus Christ.  Anyone can be saved and changed.  I think Christians should Not Judge so quickly!! I also Know we are Not to Judge someone Matthew 7:1-5 (http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?language=english&passage=Matthew+7%3A1-5&version=KJV)!!!  Jesus Forgave us, Jesus can Forgive anyone!!

Please Read the Below article I got from a fellow Christian whom sent it to me today via Email!  Plus here's a good website I found hyper-linked below this;


"National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty" (http://ncadp.org/)


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Wednesday, May 5, 2004
 
Neil Miller says he can't even get a job at McDonald's after 10 years behind bars.
 
Peter Vaughn developed a debilitating drug habit when he was freed.
 
Ulysses Rodriguez Charles' 24-year-old daughter killed herself while he was in jail.
 
All three tell searing stories about the horror of being an innocent man serving hard state prison time, and the desperation they now feel trying to assemble new lives after being freed.
 
"I can't get the time back I lost,'' said Charles, now 50, who did 19 1/2 years after being wrongly convicted in 1981 of raping three Brighton women. "I try to deny those years. I can. I am. I do it very well, but everything has consequences,'' he said.
 
In prison, Charles said he lifted weights to relieve the "unbelievable'' stress". The food was rank. There was no healthcare. And his daughter, Denise, walked into traffic when he was four years into his sentence.
 
"The things you used to feel, you don't feel anymore. I feel empty. What is the point?'' asked Charles.
 
In 2000, he was in jail when he married his wife, Rosalind. Today, they live in Dorchester, and he's a member of the iron worker's union, watching most of his buddies from the past retire. The time taken out of his life makes him bitter.
 
"I think someone should compensate me,'' Charles said, days after learning he may not have grounds to sue prosecutors. "I'm very disappointed by that.''
 
Neil Miller, now 37, said when he entered prison, his terror accelerating as fellow inmates taunted him as a "tree jumper, panty raider, skinner'' - prison slang for rapists.
 
He was furious when he learned the woman who led the investigation against him, Lt. Margot Hill, had been promoted. "It disgusts me,'' Miller said. "And it's a slap in the face to every victim that was raped.
 
"If it happened to me, and she investigated mine, how many other cases of rape has she investigated where she has missed key evidence and that person is in jail as well?'' Miller asked.
 
Miller never got an apology from Hill, any other police officer or the prosecutor - though he did get an apology letter from the victim after his release.
 
Police officials defend Hill, saying the victim identified Miller four separate times. Also, because DNA testing was not admissible in state courts until 1994, testing of sheets on the bed where the rape took place was not an option.
 
Miller said those excuses mean nothing to him. The real rapist is out there "endangering my daughter, my nieces, their families, your family,'' he said.
 
Vaughn, 43, said he survives on a small disability check and what he makes working in the kitchen at a Brockton mental health center. He missed the first three years of his son's life - a son who died three years ago. "For all the suffering I did, with loss of love and loss of family while incarcerated, there's no getting that time back,'' he said.
 
Wrongful convictions in Suffolk County since 1982
 
    2004 - Laurence Adams

    • Served 30 years for 1972 murder of MBTA (http://news.bostonherald.com/search/?searchSite=recent&keyword=MBTA) police officer

    • cleared because key witness was jailed when he claims Adams confessed to him at Dorchester house
    • Case unsolved
    2004 - Stephan Cowans

    • Served 6 1/2 years for 1997 shooting of Boston Police officer with cop's own gun
    • cleared due to error by BPD fingerprint technician and DNA
    • Case unsolved
    2004 - Anthony Powell

    • Served nearly 13 years for 1991 kidnapping and rape.
    • Cleared through DNA
    • Case unsolved
    2003 - Shawn Drumgold

    • Served 15 years for 1988 shooting of 12-year-old girl
    • Cleared when witnesses recanted
    • Case unsolved
    2002 - Ulysses Rodriguez Charles

    • Served 19 1/2 years for rapes of three Brighton women in 1980
    • Cleared through DNA
    • Case unsolved
    2000 - Neil J. Miller
     
    • Served 10 1/2 years for 1989 rape of Emerson College student
    • Cleared through DNA
    • Case unsolved
    2000/2001 - Joseph Salvati
     
    • Served 33 years for 1965 gangland hit
    • cleared because of Boston FBI corruption
    • Case unsolved
    2000/2001 - Peter Limone
     
    • Served 35 years for 1965 gangland hit
    • cleared because of Boston FBI corruption
    • Case unsolved
    2000/2001 - Henry Tameleo
     
    • Died in prison in 1985 after serving 20 years for 1965 gangland hit
    • cleared because of Boston FBI corruption
    • Case unsolved
    2000/2001 -Louis M. Greco
     
    • Died in prison in 1995 after serving 30 years for 1965 gangland hit
    • cleared because of Boston FBI corruption
    • Case unsolved
    1999 - Marlon Passley
     
    • Served four years in prison for 1995 murder
    • cleared because of bad eyewitness identification
    • New indictment filed against John Tibbs; case still open
    1999 - Donnell Johnson
     
    • Served five years for 1994 murder of nine-year-old boy
    • Cleared after new witnesses came forward in federal probe.
    • Two men indicted for slaying in 2001; case still open
    1997 - Marvin Mitchell

    • Served seven years for 1988 rape of 11-year-old girl.
    • Cleared through DNA
    • Case unsolved
    1995 - Christopher Harding
     
    • Served nearly seven years for 1990 conviction of attempted murder of Boston police officer
    • Cleared when police misconduct surfaced
    • Status unclear
    1986 - Peter Vaughn
     
    • Served three years for 1983 Fenway armed robbery
    • cleared because of mistaken identity case
    • Status unclear
    1986 Bobby Joe Leaster
     
    • Served 15 1/2 years in prison for 1970 murder of shopkeeper
    • Cleared through ballistics evidence and new witnesses
    • Status unclear
    1982 - Lawyer Johnson
     
    • Spent 10 years in prison/originally sentenced to death
    • Cleared when new witness came forward
    • Status unclear

     

     
    This is an example of what I call our "throw away" mentality. We have a culture that, in my opinion, has a skewed priority system. Power and money are the goals of our society not morals and ethics. There is a lot of insight in the following.
     
    "When Hitler came for the Jews... I was not a Jew, therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the Catholics, I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists, I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned. Then, Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church ? and there was nobody left to be concerned."

    Pastor Martin Niemoller, Congressional Record, October 14, 1968, vol. 114, p. 31636.
     
    If we don't take the initiative to help ourselves by helping the ones around us, we can't be surprised at the degredation of our quality of life.


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    Remember Judge Not!!  \o/

    KristiAnn
    MsGuidedAngel






    Title: Re:The Death Penalty, Schwarzenegger and Court TV movie
    Post by: shrekandogre on January 23, 2005, 11:38:36 PM
    On January 19th of this year Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger allowed the
    first death sentence to be served in three years, and the first under
    Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  

    Dissapointing  there has only been 1 out of 3.  I hope Scotty P. kicks the bucket soon...sry people if that offends you but he's a bad man.