The Journal Gazette Fort Wayne, Indiana Sunday March 4, 2001
   Death appeal draws support Allen glitch kept blacks off jury, defense says
   By Laura Emerson - The Journal Gazette

                Some see him as a cold-hearted cop killer. Others see him as an artist, writer and
                defender of the downtrodden.

                Many see Zolo Agona Azania as another man on death row who is using their tax
                money to fund an endless string of appeals.

                Azania, 46, has managed to avoid death for nearly 20 years. An Allen County jury
                sentenced the Gary man to death in 1982 for fatally shooting a Gary police officer
                during a 1981 bank robbery. At the time, his name was Rufus Lee Averhart.

                He's challenging a jury's decision in 1996 to resentence him to death. The jury
                consisted of 11 whites and one Hispanic woman.

                Azania and his attorneys claim a computer glitch in the jury selection process
                eliminated a majority of potential black jurors from the selection pool.

                Now, death penalty opponents from around the world are expected to focus their
                attention on Allen Superior Court beginning March 13, when attorneys working on
                Azania's behalf will argue that the computer glitch violated Azania's constitutional
                rights.

                These opponents have sent letters and e-mail messages to Judge Kenneth
                Scheibenberger, telling him they're paying attention to the case. Some are
                expected to attend, said Michael Deutsch, an attorney appointed by the Indiana
                Supreme Court to represent Azania.

                Several defendants have unsuccessfully challenged their Allen County convictions
                based on the 1996 computer glitch, but this will be the first death penalty appeal to
                scrutinize the county's jury selection process.

                Described as an intelligent man by one of his defense attorneys, Azania has tried
                to use every legal avenue to stay alive.

                                                   Getting this far

                In 1982, Azania became the first person in Allen County to be sentenced to death
                since 1959. The trial was moved to Allen County because of pre-trial publicity.

                The state Supreme Court upheld Azania's murder conviction, but reversed the
                death penalty sentence in 1993.

                A new penalty phase was heard in February 1996 in Allen County. A jury
                recommended death, and Scheibenberger sentenced Azania to die by lethal
                injection.

                Neither set of trial jurors knew it, but Azania previously was convicted of
                manslaughter for killing a 69-year-old Gary man during a 1972 burglary.

                In November, the state Supreme Court said it would allow Azania to challenge his
                second death sentence based on the alleged computer error. It also said Azania
                could present alleged newly discovered evidence relative to his guilt.

                Allen County officials said the computer glitch discovered in late 1996 caused
                many Wayne Township voters to be omitted from lists of potential jurors.

                Azania's attorneys argue that the alleged computer error caused the "systematic
                exclusion" of black voters, because more than 70 percent of Allen County's black
                population lives in Wayne Township. Wayne Township encompasses south-central
                Fort Wayne.

                Azania is black. The officer he was convicted of killing was white.

                County officials say the problem occurred when a jury selection program was
                changed in late 1995 to expand the jury pool from 10,000 to 14,000 registered
                voters for the 1996 year.

                Deutsch contends the irregularities existed back in 1982, when Azania was first
                convicted. If Deutsch were to argue that point successfully, it could overturn
                Azania's original conviction and require a new trial on both the evidence and the
                death penalty phases - nearly 20 years after Azania was convicted.

                Several jurors at his 1982 trial told The Journal Gazette they sentenced Azania to
                death because of evidence that showed Azania stood over a wounded, unarmed
                police officer and fired a bullet into his chest.

                A juror said they didn't recommend the death sentence for two other men involved
                in the murder because jurors felt Azania was the person most responsible for the
                officer's death.

                                                   Appellate history

                Azania's attorneys think they can show that the exclusion of Wayne Township
                voters was systematic, not random.

                If they can prove county officials systematically excluded voters, they might
                succeed in getting Azania yet another sentencing hearing.

                At first blush, it doesn't appear likely.

                The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled against three defendants who filed
                challenges based on Allen County's 1996 jury selection process.

                In the case of an Allen County man convicted in 1996 of drug possession, the
                appellate court wrote that the man failed to show purposeful discrimination on
                Allen County's part or a violation of his Sixth Amendment right to a jury pool
                consisting of a fair cross section of the community.

                The appellate court wrote that jury panels are not required to constitute a
                microcosm of the community, although the primary goal of the jury selection
                process is to produce a reasonable cross section of the community.

                Deutsch, a partner in The People's Law Office in Chicago, said there was no clear
                record in the prior appellate cases as to what the problem was, how long it existed
                and its actual effect.

                Michelle Kraus, one of the defense attorneys appointed to represent Azania in
                1996 said a large number of jurors showed up, but only four of them were members
                of a minority group. One, a Hispanic woman, was placed on the jury of 12.

                Because the county keeps no records of jurors' races, a person would have to go
                through some elaborate statistical research to get answers to such questions as
                who was excluded and what percentage of blacks were excluded, Deutsch said.

                Azania's attorneys have hired a statistician to do that, and Deutsch believes that
                could cause Azania's appeal to have a better outcome than the others.

                "I'm optimistic we'll succeed," Deutsch said.

                Even if things don't turn out the way Azania's lawyers hope they do, Azania can
                still take his claims to federal court, Deutsch said.

                                                           International support

               Azania has received a considerable amount of support, especially from people in
                Europe, said Tracy Lamourie, co-director of the Canadian Coalition Against the
                Death Penalty. Her group's Internet Web site hosts Web pages for more than 300
                people on death row around the world, including Azania.

                His page includes some of the art he has drawn since being sent to the Indiana
                State Penitentiary in Michigan City in 1982.

                "We're trying to show the real faces and cases of people on death row," Lamourie
                said.

                Azania's cause appears on several Web sites. One describes him as "an
                ex-offender and tireless activist on behalf of the downtrodden."

                It says Azania was stopped by police on his way to a grocery store,
                pistol-whipped and arrested without a warrant or explanation, then "framed on
                trumped-up charges."

                It urges people to call or write Indiana officials on Azania's behalf. Many have
                followed that urging, even sending e-mails to The Journal Gazette.

                Another Web site describes Azania as a "politically conscious activist, who at the
                time of his arrest and capture in 1981, was actively involved in the movement for
                the self-determination of New Afrikan people."

                Azania's commitment to the liberation and independence of New Afrikan people
                within the United States influenced the way the police, prosecution and courts
                treated him, according to the Web site, maintained by the Prairie Fire Organizing
                Committee in Chicago.

                Such information isn't likely to be featured in next week's hearing.

                Instead, attorneys will focus on statistics, procedures, intent and outcome.
                 PUBLISHED SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 2001   http://www.journalgazette.net/

          The images below were deleted by NBCi in April 2001

            The original webpage was deleted by NBCI in April 2001