8/6/2019 Amnesty International (Death Penalty)
1/5
Amnesty International USA322
Eighth AvenueNew York,
FEBRUARY 11, 1998
CONTACTS: ROGER RATHMAN (212) 633-4208 LURMA RACKLEY (202)
675-8575
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA URGES OHIO NOT TO TAKE RETROGRADE STEP
BY
CONDUCTING FIRST EXECUTION SINCE 1963
Ohio set to engage in state-assisted suicideNew York - Amnesty
International USA today urged Ohio to reconsider its
scheduled execution of Wilfred Berry and called on Governor
George Voenovich to grant clemency.Wilfred Berry, 33, is
scheduled to be executed in Ohio on March 3, 1998. He was
sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of Charles Mitroff.
Berry has withdrawn his legal appeals and consented to his
execution. Berry's execution would be the first in Ohio since
1963.
Berry's co-defendant received a life sentence, however Berry
requested that he be sentenced to death and refused to
cooperate
with his lawyers during the trial.Amnesty International is
extremely concerned at the precedent Berry's execution would set
in
Ohio.
Berry's case has not been adjudicated by the judicial system as
warranting a death sentence. It would appear that his sentence
is
a result of the state of Ohio complying with his long-term wish
to die, thereby making it a case of state-assisted
suicide.Previous prison records show that Berry has an extremely
abusive childhood during which he was severely beaten by
his mother and sexually assaulted. Both his parents suffered
from mental problems - his father was diagnosed as
schizophrenic.
Berry has made 11 suicide attempts, the first when he was only
11-years-old. At 14 he was committed to an institution for the
severely emotionally disturbed where he was diagnosed as
suffering from severe schizophrenia but received no further
treatment upon release.
At the age of 19 he was sentenced to six years imprisonment for
car theft in Texas. While in prison he was raped by another
inmate and attempted suicide. Prison doctors diagnosed Berry as
suffering form chronic undifferentiated delusional
schizophrenia. While on death row, Berry has conducted a
letter-writing campaign to be executed.In December 1997, the
Ohio
Supreme Court found that Berry was mentally competent to waive
his legal appeals.
When asked about the mental evaluation, Berry indicated his
desire to be found competent, stating: "I've been studying up.
I
know I can pass. I know what they look for. All I'm going to say
is I did it and I should die."Ohio's Attorney General, Betty
Montgomery, has supported legislation that would make assisted
suicide illegal in the state. However, she has aggressively
defended Berry's right to waive his appeals and be executed,
stating: "If a volunteer wished to have the death penalty, we
will
concur in that.""I can't believe that Ohio would execute such a
severely impaired person, let alone be complicit in his
suicide,"
said Sam Jordan, AIUSA's Director of the Program to Abolish the
Death Penalty, Mr. Jordan continued, "This is as draconian
as it gets in the death business. When will Ohio and other
states begin to allow its citizens to know that there are
sentencing
alternatives?"
8/6/2019 Amnesty International (Death Penalty)
2/5
It would seem that with this second just execution since the
Governor's little indiscretion with the pope a while back,
Missouri
has redeemed itself to the world!
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/execution990310.html
This just execution of a particularly vicious in-prison
murderer
means that not only the streets of Missouri but the prisons
of
Missouri also will be a little safer this evening just as Hell
will
be a little bit fuller. God Bless America and the Show-me
State!
Amen.
Yours in the glory that is our Lord Jesus Christ,
Don
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/execution990310.htmlhttp://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/execution990310.html
8/6/2019 Amnesty International (Death Penalty)
3/5
LOCATION: Potosi Correctional Center, Potosi, 12:05am CDT,
1:05am EDT
METHOD: Injection
CRIME: Roy Roberts, 46, was executed for the murder of a
prisonguard at the Mobley Center for Men during a riot in 1983.
Roberts had a long criminal record including tampering,
felonytheft, drug possession and armed robbery.
LAST MEAL: Declined. Was given a sedative because he was
agitated.
LAST WORDS: "You're killing an innocent man and you all can kiss
my ass."
LOCATION: Greensville Correctional Center, Jarratt, 9:07pm
EDT
METHOD: Injection
CRIME: George Quesinberry, 37, was executed for the robbery
andmurder of Thomas Haynes, 63, in 1989. Haynes was shot inthe back
at point blank range. Quesinberry then smashed inHaynes' skull with
the gun.
LAST MEAL: Pizza with bell peppers, mushrooms, onions and
extracheese. Fried chicken breast cut in half, cheeseburgerwith two
pieces of cheese, mayonnaise, mustard, onionand tomato, large plate
of unsalted french fries,chocolate pudding.
LAST WORDS: "I just want my familt to know I loved them and to
the
victim's family, I'm sorry for what I've done."
NUMBERS: 62nd person executed in Virginia since 1982. First
ofseven set to be executed in the state over the next
twomonths.
![[EMBARGOED FOR: 3 October 2003] Public amnesty ... · 1 Under Republic Act (RA) 7659, known as the death penalty law, the death penalty may not be imposed on those aged under 18 at](https://img.dokumen.tips/doc/110x75/5e8022feec92fe0ba65c51ba/embargoed-for-3-october-2003-public-amnesty-1-under-republic-act-ra-7659.jpg)
