Social Justice Activists Converge on GA Capitol, Calling For a Moratorium

By Benetta M. Standly

Georgia needs a TIME-OUT on executions! The death penalty is broken! Recent studies have shown that 126 people since 1973 have been exonerated from death rows; five of those persons were Georgians. Georgia has not fully funded legal defense for the poor. Race, poverty and county play stronger role in sentencing than the brutality of crimes. In Georgia, 80% of death sentences have been reversed due to serious error.

Over 100 supporters and members of the Georgia Moratorium Campaign convened its annual lobby day at the Georgia State Capitol on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 in an ongoing fight to reform capital punishment in Georgia!!!  

The event-filled day included a lobbying orientation, meetings with legislators, and a press conference and rally. The civic engagement training led by Ms. Benetta Standly, statewide organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia highlighted the mechanisms of how a bill becomes law in the Georgia State Legislature, and how an  individual can impact the public policy making process.  Participants moved to the State Capitol’s legislative floor where they were met by dozens of others to speak directly with State Senators and Representatives.

Participants issued a call for a moratorium on executions in the State of Georgia to take time to study the flaws in its application, but also focused on gathering support for several death penalty reform measures currently in the both the Senate and the House. At promptly 12:00noon, the group gathered in the rotunda for a press conference and rally.

With a number of television and print news media on hand, Representative Stephanie Stuckey-Benfield, Senator Vincent Fort, Senator Nan Orrock, Laura Moye of Amnesty International,  death row exoneree Shareef Cousin, Ms. Martina Correia; sister of death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis, and numerous clergy addressed the crowd in calling for a moratorium on the death penalty, new standards for conducting eyewitness identifications and adequately funding the state’s public defender’s office so the poor have equal justice.  A large contingent of the Black Legislative Caucus attended the press conference including:  Representatives Alisha Thomas Morgan, Karla Drenner, Able Mable Thomas, Sheila Jones, Randall Mangham,  Henry Wayne Howard , and Quincy Murphy.

Specifically, the Georgia Moratorium Campaign asked the Georgia General Assembly to:

  1. Provide adequate funding for indigent defense. Recently the Senate Appropriations Committee cut the Governor-approved $3.6 Million to $0.5 Million in the supplemental budget. This will damage the states ability to provide indigent defense. The full amount must be restored.
  2. Improve standards for use of eyewitness identification as this is a leading cause of wrongful convictions. There is bipartisan and law enforcement support of both these legislative measures (HB 997 and HR 1071).
  3. Enact a moratorium on executions while the state studies the well-documented, wide-ranging problems with the death penalty. These measures have been introduced again this session by Senator Vincent Fort, who serves on the Georgia affiliate’s Board of Directors (SR 364, SB 255).


See link below for more information and numerous photos.
http://www.georgiamoratorium.org/lobbyday2008/lobbyday08.html

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