Mentally Ill Man Executed in Alabama in Violation of Constitution
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Questionable Alabama Executions 2011
Mason
Trial judge admitted errors and inexperience
Derrick Mason was executed on September 22, 2011, even though the sentencing judge who condemned him to die admitted his judgment was a mistake, born of his own inexperience and that of Mr. Mason's trial lawyers. Madison County Circuit Judge Loyd H. Little, Jr., asked Alabama Governor Robert Bentley to commute to life imprisonment without parole the death sentence Judge Little had imposed on Derrick Mason. In a letter to the governor, Judge Little admitted his own lack of experience led him to impose the wrong sentence in Mr. Mason's case - his first capital trial. The governor turned down the appeal. Powell - mentally retarded
Powell
Eddie Powell was executed on June 16, 2011, despite credible evidence that he was mentally retarded. An Alabama trial court summarily dismissed his mental retardation claim without hearing any evidence. No state or federal court gave him a hearing on the merits of his claim.
Powell's lawyers presented these facts to Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, who denied clemency. The Race Factor In America, nearly one out of every three black men in their twenties is in jail or prison, on probation or parole, or otherwise under criminal justice control. Black men are eight times more likely to be incarcerated than white men. Without reform, it is estimated that 40% of the black male population in the State of Alabama will permanently lose the right to vote as the result of a criminal conviction. |