My son is on death row in Alabama. I
am aware that this in itself is not a unique situation, nor is it unusual
that someone accused of a crime would claim to be innocent. What I find
particularly appalling is that no one of consequence will even examine
the newly found evidence. This evidence, I must add, is both credible
and points to glaringly obvious mishandling at every stage of the investigation
and trying of my son. Neither family nor anyone who really knew Dave has
ever doubted his innocence and we have, as best as we have been able, initiated
an investigation and possess credible evidence to support our
position.
It would have been difficult to imagine
anything worse than the one-sided trial we endured but it pales in comparison
to the appeals process and the lengths the courts will go to in order to
sustain this obviously suspect conviction. It appears to me that in cases
where factual dispute still remains an issue into
appeal, the courts are less likely
to grant relief. To me, and others who share my social awareness, this
is unconscionable.
If even a remote possibility exists
that a person sentenced to die may in truth be innocent, it is the sworn
responsibility of the higher courts to make every available effort to fairly
examine all of the facts (new as well as those presented at trial). We
as a humane, civilized society must demand and settle for nothing less.
My son is a great father to two very
well raised and adjusted children. Good people can do bad things, granted,
but Dave is not a cold-blooded killer. We have a small network of folks
who have independently examined this case and believe wholly in Dave's
innocence. They are committed and have offered to enlist their services
in the preparation of the case.
What we are truly lacking are the resources
needed in order to adequately investigate and prepare known information
for admissibility and consideration in the courts. We have access to the
evidence but in order to avoid any possible
contamination or compromising of the
new (and convincing) facts, we must be extremely careful. Through this
experience we have learned how easily facts can be manipulated, and we
need people highly qualified in a case of this extreme nature to preserve
the truth and avoid any further misrepresentation of
what actually happened. This webpage
is not designed to tell our story and attempt to sway public opinion. At
this point the courts are the only forum where justice can be sought. As
desperately as we'd like to expose the truth of all this to the world,
we are for all meaningful purposes acting without the
benefit of counsel, and until such
time as qualified representation has been able to develop the issues involved,
it is only that representation which we seek.
Our primary objective here is to access
members of the legal community. The best scenario would be to find a law
firm in a position (and possessing the experience and resources) to prepare
and present our case pro bono. We feel as though a firm would lend a measure
of organization to our endeavors as
they would be accustomed to working
together. We have made attempts to bring our case to the attention of any
groups we could find that we felt might either share our experience or
that recruits pro bono representation in cases such as this. It appears
the bottom line is that there are very few advocates
willing to involve themselves in an
endeavor of this magnitude, some for moral reasons I suppose but more because
the resources that must be committed to properly defend a case that statistically
ends in one's client being executed are
tremendous. At any rate, as an alternative
we could put it together with the donation of individual legal services
to work in cooperation with those already committed. We need highly qualified
investigative people and forensic experts in particular, but all areas
need development in order to expose the truth. What we have is credible
and powerfully compelling. It must be investigated!!! We can't afford to
wait, as sympathetic as we are to the reality of so many others
who need help as badly as we do. The
longer it takes to institute a legitimate investigation into our allegations,
the greater the probability that the truth will be further compromised.
Below are the issues of the case as
presented in our writ of cert. to the Alabama Supreme Court in direct appeal
(which was denied). We are now awaiting a decision on our petition in that
court for reconsideration. Barring the unlikely event that the court will
reverse its own ruling, we feel we will soon be in
post conviction. This will be our first
and last meaningful opportunity to raise these new issues during the state
habeous, and therefore it is imperative we develop and raise every issue
which exposes the miscarriage of justice in this case. As mentioned earlier,
time is not our friend in this case as time alone could compromise the
integrity of our entire case. Time has already cost us much and these issues
must be preserved.
Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama
(formerly Capital Representation Center of Ala.) is aware of the issues
in the record and it is thanks only to them that we have preserved what
we have on appeal. They are in the position of recruiting
pro bono attorneys for death cases
in Alabama, but they have only a handful of attorneys and about 170 cases
to fight for justice in. We are fortunate to have meager resources which
enable us to make an effort on our own, and quite frankly we cannot wait
our turn on a long list of desperate situations in which each case a person's
very life is at stake. The witnesses and facts in this case are far too
critical to leave to chance. We can only pray that the right person will
hear our cries of desperation. At the end of our webpage we will provide
all
relevant contact information. Our supporters,
my family, and I personally thank you from our hearts for taking the time
to read our plea.
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