Weekly Report from the Board Meeting at Holman Prison 5.22.24
Governor Ivey set 5.30.24 as the execution date by lethal injection for Jamie Mills. Talking Points are at
https://www.phadp.org/category/execution-alerts/ and most importantly, please sign the petition:
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-the-execution-of-jamie-mills-in-alabama/ Plans are being made for a rally and petition delivery at noon on 5.28.24 at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery. We hope to see you there! So please mark your calendar and sign the petition! New evidence shows that Jamie Mills was wrongfully convicted and shouldn't be executed. Equal Justice Initiative attorneys have filed motions to halt his execution. https://eji.org/news/stay-of-execution-sought-after-discovery-of-new-evidence-that-prosecutors-falsified-case-against-jamie-mills The Federal judge rejected Jamie Mills' innocence claim and also rejected a stay of execution. Mr. Mills still has a lawsuit pending in the Middle District of Alabama where he is challenging Alabama's process of lethal injection. In that case, his lawyers argued that he “is at imminent risk of being subjected to an unnecessarily prolonged and torturous execution process at the hands of State officials with unreviewable authority, without the presence of counsel or access to the courts.”
Governor Ivey set 7.18.24 as the execution date by lethal injection for Keith Edmund Gavin. Gavin’s attorney had asked the court not to authorize the execution, arguing the state was moving Gavin to the “front of the line” ahead of other inmates who had exhausted their appeals. Talking Points are at:
https://www.phadp.org/execution-alert-keith-edmund-gavin-7-18-24/ and most importantly, please sign the petition:
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-the-execution-of-keith-gavin-in-alabama
Governor Ivey set 9.26.24 as the execution date for Alan Eugene Miller, who survived a 2022 lethal injection attempt. His attorneys have asked the federal judge to block the execution from going forward, seeking to bar the use of nitrogen hypoxia as the method of execution claiming it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, which is barred by the U.S. Constitution. Talking Points are at:
https://www.phadp.org/execution-alert-alan-eugene-miller-9-26-24/ and most importantly please sign the petition:
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-the-execution-of-alan-miller-in-alabama
On May 20, 2024, Jefferson County, Alabama District Attorney Danny Carr asked a circuit judge to grant a new trial to Toforest Johnson whose conviction DA Carr believes is “fundamentally unreliable.”
Nothing is more encouraging than when individuals reach out to us and during the past week we heard from a group of volunteers from St. Thomas by the Sea Catholic Church, in Orange Beach and the Rev. Caroline Kelly of Grace Presbyterian Church in Tuscaloosa where the Rev. Kelly became the pastor as of 1.1.24. We so appreciate that the execution day vigils held there for years will continue.
Of course one does not have to live in Alabama to be appreciated by us for reaching out and so we were encouraged by Herman Lindsey, Executive Director of Witness to Innocence getting in touch. We look forward to a meeting at the vigil and discussing how we can work together.
The most recent NAACP Legal Defense Report states that In Alabama, 129 of 167 (77.2%) death row prisoners were sentenced non-unanimously or faced judicial override.
We thank all who are working so hard and diligently to stop all killing in Alabama! And as always in closing, we thank all our generous donors who either gave by going to our website and using the “donate” button or who gave directly. Thank you also to all who took the time to read our notes, commented, liked and shared them on Facebook. Stay safe and be kind to each other!
Esther
