Home
About
Contact
Volunteer
In Action! Event Calendar Press Releases Execution Information Abolition Day
Search
Donate Resource Center Partner Links Wrongful Convictions AbolitionWear

CUADP was pleased to support Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE) in their effort to expose illegal action by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals which resulted in the execution of Lewis Williams. CUADP helped by disseminating CURE's press release and making the sign you see in the images below. Here are a few images from the action.

  • click here to see the press release

    click on photos to enlarge

    Here is the text of the article if you have trouble reading the image:

    Wednesday, June 1, 2005

    Protest targets 2004 execution Federal Appeals Court picketed

    By Dan Horn
    Enquirer staff writer

    A prisoners' rights group picketed a federal appeals court in Cincinnati on Tuesday, accusing the court's judges of mishandling a death penalty case last year.

    The protesters, members of the national and Ohio chapter of Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), claim two judges with the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals should not have been allowed to vote on whether to postpone the execution of Lewis Williams.

    The court deadlocked 6-6 on the request to stay Williams' execution, but the stay it was denied because a majority is required. Williams, convicted of shooting a Cleveland woman, was executed in January 2004.

    CURE, based in Washington, D.C., filed a complaint about the vote last year, but no action has been taken.

    "They illegally executed this person," said Charles Sullivan, a CURE spokesman.

    Court officials say the complaint still is being investigated, but several judges on the 6th Circuit already have stated in court papers that they agree a mistake was made.

    The dispute is the latest in a series of disagreements among 6th Circuit judges that have divided the court along partisan lines. Some judges have openly criticized their colleagues and have, at times, accused one another of breaking the court's rules.

    Most of the disputes, including the one over the Williams case, pit the court's liberal judges against conservatives.

    Disagreement in Williams' case arose after two semi-retired judges on senior status, Cornelia Kennedy and Richard Surheinrich, voted with the court's other judges on the request to stay Williams' execution.

    Five other judges argued that the vote was improper because court rules do not allow senior judges to participate in such hearings.

    Those judges said that if the senior judges had not participated, the court would have voted to allow the stay and Williams would not have been executed as scheduled.

    CURE's complaint seeks an investigation into why Chief Judge Danny Boggs allowed the two judges to take part in the vote. Boggs could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

    The former chief judge, Boyce Martin, was assigned to review the complaint. Martin sided with the dissenters and has been the target of a separate complaint about his handling of a death penalty case while he was chief judge.

    Neither complaint has been resolved. The possibilities include a dismissal of the complaints by a council of federal judges in Cincinnati or a referral of the complaint to a panel of judges from other circuits, which would then rule on whether disciplinary action is necessary.

    Martin declined to comment on the CURE complaint Tuesday.

    Sullivan, who was joined by about a half-dozen protesters, said he hopes the pickets spur the court to action.

    "We don't know where else to go, so we're reluctantly here," Sullivan said. "Somehow or other, I guess (the judges) think it will just go away."

    Activists - Take Note!

    It cost less than an hour and less than $10 to make that sign that Charlie is holding.

    Use your own computer to lay out your sign. Set the paper size to 11x17, and be sure to use a very clear and very bold font - the above is in "Impact". Then take that to Kinkos (on a disk) and use their computer to print it out on 11x17 inch paper. Then use the blueprint copier to enlarge it up to 400% (the above sign was 325%). Then take two unfolded boxes (read - sturdy cardboard) and tape them together to get the size needed, and then tape the jumbo copy of your sign to the cardboard backing.

    There, now you have *very visible* sign that can be read from across the street or 8 floors or more above the street.... You can also make 11x17 inch copies on brightly colored paper for other activists to hold and take with them to post in the office, at school, etc.

    This "direct hit" in the local media clearly demonstrates that you don't need a crowd to get your point across. One person with a good sign, a clear message, and a properly disseminated press release can win decent media coverage.... All we have to do is do it!

    NOTE - the image of Lewis Williams was saved from internet news coverage at the time he was killed, but might also have been retrieved using an internet search. But it is always good to stash items when they are easily available... FYI, Williams put up a fight when they killed him....

    • Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CUADP) works to end the death penalty in the United States through aggressive campaigns of public education and the promotion of tactical grassroots activism.   
    Search Our Site for:
     
    Copyright 2000 CUADP   Designed & Hosted by: Web Design, Web Hosting, SEO   Support CUADP and contact Computer Partners for Web Design & Hosting, eCommerce and Search Engine Optimization.