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José Medellín, a Mexican national, is scheduled to be executed on August 5th in Texas, despite not having been informed of his right to seek assistance from Mexican consular officials. The US is obligated by Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations to inform foreign nationals of their right to seek consular assistance. Urge Texas officials to honor US treaty commitments by granting clemency for José Medellín. PDF format | RTF format
Kevin Young is now scheduled to be executed in Oklahoma on August 21 for a killing during a robbery that went "amiss", despite the absence of proof that he actually fired the fatal shot. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 4-1 to grant him clemency and Governor Brad Henry granted a 30-day stay to consider his decision. Urge the Governor to accept this recommendation and grant clemency to Kevin Young.
Iran is one of the only countries left in the world today that still executes children and child offenders (those accused of committing an offense when they were under eighteen years of age). Currently, there are at least 84 known juvenile offenders awaiting execution in Iran, but the total number could be much higher. Many of those scheduled to be executed were convicted in flawed legal proceedings. PDF format | RTF format
Troy Davis was sentenced to death for the murder of Police Officer Mark MacPhail in Georgia. The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even during the trial. Since then, all but two of the state's nine non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony. Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis. PDF format | RTF format
Please write a brief note to Governor Jon Corzine, Senate President Richard J. Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts to thank them for their leadership on this important issue.
Thomas Arthur is scheduled for execution on July 31 in Alabama. The state is pursuing his execution even though his conviction was based mainly on the testimony of an admitted perjurer who had an incentive to lie at his trial. Although DNA evidence exists which Thomas Arthur says could help demonstrate his innocence, the State of Alabama has not granted his request to be allowed to conduct DNA testing of evidence relating to the crime.
Domestic worker Rizana Nafeek was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabis for a murder committed while she was just 17 years old. Saudi Arabia is a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which expressly prohibits the execution of offenders for crimes committed when they were under 18 years old. Rizana Nafeek is believed to have appealed against her sentence, but if her appeal is unsuccessful she could be executed within days.
Good News! On June 9th, 2008, just one day before his scheduled execution, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine commuted the death sentence of Percy Levar Walton. Walton, who was scheduled to become the 100th inmate executed in Virginia, suffers from severe mental illness and Kaine determined that “one cannot reasonably conclude that Walton is fully aware of the punishment he is about to suffer and why he is to suffer it.” Please thank Governor Kaine for commuting the sentence of Percy Wal
