[491] in peace2
POSTPONED: Juan Garza Vigil
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Aimee L Smith)
Sat Dec 9 00:06:54 2000
Message-Id: <200012090506.AAA32744@emat1.mit.edu>
To: alsmith@MIT.EDU
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Date: Sat, 09 Dec 2000 00:06:19 -0500
From: Aimee L Smith <alsmith@MIT.EDU>
Hi Everyone,
Federal execution postponed for six months, so Mon vigil called
off for now.
Because of the delay of Juan Garza's execution (see below), AIUSA Group
133 is postponing the vigil we originally planned for Monday, Dec. 11 until
the night before the next scheduled federal execution. We'll keep you posted
regarding date and time.
Will you all please let anyone that you may have told about the vigil know
about this postponement? Many thanks.
Peace,
Kathleen
_____________________
Kathleen M. Gillespie
Amnesty International USA
Local Group 133 of Somerville and Arlington, MA
Group 133 website: http://www.amnesty133.org
Email: gilleska@hotmail.com
- ----
The New York Times
December 8, 2000
Clinton Again Delays Execution of Murderer
By MARC LACEY and DAVID JOHNSTON
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 -
Concerned about the fairness of the federal death penalty system,
President Clinton tonight delayed the execution of Juan Raul Garza for
six months, leaving it to the next president to decide whether Mr.
Garza, a confessed murderer, should be the first federal prisoner
executed since the 1960's.
Mr. Clinton's decision to postpone the execution, which was scheduled
for Tuesday morning at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., was hailed
by
a broad coalition of death penalty opponents. But those opponents were
displeased that the president stopped well short of their call for a
complete moratorium on federal executions.
In delaying Mr. Garza's execution for a second time - the original
execution date was Aug. 5 - Mr. Clinton cited a current Justice
Department review of racial and geographical disparities in the
administration of the federal death penalty.
"I am not satisfied that, given the uncertainty that exists, it is
appropriate to go forward with an execution in a case that may implicate
the
very issues at the center of that uncertainty," Mr. Clinton said.
A preliminary review by the department, cited by the president as
disturbing, found that just a handful of United States attorneys
accounted for 40 percent of federal death penalty cases and that members
of
minority groups were disproportionately represented among the 20 people on
federal death row.
Mr. Clinton reached his decision after a meeting today with Attorney
General Janet Reno; Eric H. Holder, a deputy attorney general, who
oversees the department's criminal cases; Beth Nolan, the White House
counsel; and John D. Podesta, the White House chief of staff. It came
after officials at the prison had already begun preparing for Mr.
Garza's execution by lethal injection.
"In issuing this stay, I have not decided that the death penalty should
not
be imposed in this case, in which heinous crimes were proved," Mr. Clinton
said. "Nor have I decided to halt all executions in the federal system.
"I
have simply concluded that the examination of possible racial and regional
bias should be completed before the United States goes forward with an
execution in a case that may implicate the very questions raised by the
Justice Department's continuing study. In this area, there is no room for
error."
Mr. Clinton ordered the Justice Department to complete its review by the
end
of April, leaving more than a month before Mr. Garza's new execution date
for the next president to consider the issue.
Mr. Garza's lawyers, Greg Wiercioch and Bruce W. Gilchrist, filed a
clemency petition with the president in September. The inmate has
admitted to three drug-related killings but argues that he faces death
largely because the crime occurred in Texas, one of the leading states
in federal death penalty cases, and because he is Mexican-American.
Reacting to Mr. Clinton's decision last night, Mr. Wiercioch said, "I'm
relieved that the president acknowledged the serious problems with the
federal death penalty and prevented an unconscionable act from being
undertaken next Tuesday. But I'm disappointed that the president did not
commute his sentence" to life imrisonment.
Federal prosecutors say Mr. Garza, 44, led a drug-running operation that
smuggled tons of marijuana from Mexico. He was convicted in 1993 in
Brownsville, Tex., of committing one murder and ordering two others. The
victims were Erasmo de la Fuente, Gilberto Matos and Thomas Albert Rumbo,
associates of Mr. Garza.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/08/national/08DEAT.html
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
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