Will you rebel?
"It is not rebellion itself which is noble but the demands it makes upon us." — Albert Camus
Consider the following list citing mistakes that have been made by an entire nation mired in the self-righteous and pretentious pit that is criminal justice, US style.
The names are listed by their respective states. Keep in mind too, as you read, that this list covers only a 25-30 year period. What you are about to read are only those mistakes that the powers that be could not sweep beneath the rug of their public conscience.
ALABAMA: Walter McMillan; ARIZONA: Robert Charles Cruz; John Henry Knapp; Jonathan Treadway; CALIFORNIA: Patrick Croy; Jerry Bigelow; FLORIDA: Andrew Golden; Bradley P. Scott; James Richardson; Robert Cox; William Jent; Earnest Miller; Willie Brown; Larry Troy; Juan Ramos; Joseph Green Brown; Anthony Ray Peek; Anthony Brown; Anibal Jarramillo; Delbert Tibbs; Freddie Pitts; Wilbert Lee; David Keaton; GEORGIA: Gary Nelson; Robert Wallace; Henry Drake; Jerry Banks; Earl Charles; ILLINOIS: Verneal Jimerson; Dennis Williams; Rolando Cruz; Joseph Burrows; Perry Cobb; Darby Williams; INDIANA: Larry Hicks; LOUISIANA: Clarence Smith; Johnny Ross; MARYLAND: Kirk Bloodsworth; MASSACHUSETTS: Lawyer Johnson; NEW MEXICO: Thomas Gladish; Richard Greer; Ronald Keine; Clarence Smith; NORTH CAROLINA: Timothy Hennis; OHIO: Dale Johnston; Gary Beeman; OKLAHOMA: Adolph Munson; Gregory R. Wilhoit; Charles Ray Giddens; PENNSYLVANIA: Jay C. Smith; Neil Ferber; SOUTH CAROLINA: Michael Linder; Jesse Keith Brown; TEXAS: Federico Macias; Muneer Deeb; John C. Skelton; Clarence Brandley; Randall Dale Adams; Vernon McManus.
The men listed were sentenced to death, and all were later found to be innocent of a capital crime and were released after spending years and years collectively on death row. Most, if not all, would have been executed if the appeals process in place today had been law when they were given death sentences years ago. In many of these cases the police and prosecution deliberately withheld evidence from both the judges and juries.
So then, will you tell me (and others) what effect the reading of this lengthy list has had upon your sense of outrage and social conscience — and, seeing the wrongness of state-sanctioned murder, will you rebel?
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He welcomes letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-51, Georgia State Prison, HCO1, C-1-30, Reidsville, GA 30453, USA. Australians Against Executions is raising funds to pay for a lawyer for Brandon's resentencing trial. If you can help, please make cheques payable to the Brandon Astor Jones Defence Account and post to 10 Palara Place, Dee Why NSW 2099. Donations to the Brandon Astor Jones Defence Account may also be made at any Commonwealth Bank, account No. 2127 1003 7638.]