Weekly Report from the Board Meeting at Holman Prison 5.27.26
Governor Ivey set 6.11.26 as the execution date for Jeffery Lee and she has the power to grant clemency. It is important to note that he has many powerful issues, including 7-5 jury override of the life without sentence for which the jury had voted and at the time of the crime an untreated TBI
Mr. Lee is a highly respected and much loved member of our Board and Secretary/Treasurer. Jeffery Lee has a Facebook page “Life For Jeffery Lee” and a website https://www.lifeforjefferylee.com/ where you can learn more about Jaylove, as he is called by his friends and family. The Talking Points and address for the Governor can be found at https://www.phadp.org/execution-alert-10/ .and the petition https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-the-execution-of-jeffery-lee-in-alabama/ We are forwarding actions from his team The Life for Jeffery Lee Campaign, and hope that we can count on you to act on his behalf!
Supreme Court declines to weigh IQ standards in Alabama death row case. Supreme Court dismisses Alabama death row inmate’s appeal, declining to evaluate multiple IQ scores in capital cases. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that it had “improvidently granted” a writ of certiorari in Hamm v. Smith, which meant that it first agreed to hear the case but later decided that it should not have been accepted. Very good news and we hope also for others as “The resolution of Smith’s case may influence how courts handle future cases involving borderline intellectual disability claims in capital punishment contexts. The legal reasoning applied could serve as a reference in similar disputes.”
Alabama AG leads 16 states backing faster death penalty reviews “Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a 16-state coalition letter supporting a rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice to help streamline federal review of state capital murder convictions.” “The Marshall Lesson: Why Nitrogen Executions Are Bad Politics” by the Execution Intervention Project discusses Marshall’s losing his senate race pointing out that executions are not the only issue Alabama voters care about,
From our friends at Death Penalty Action “With five executions last week and this week, hats off to Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and Senator Dick Durbin for using this moment to reintroduce the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act. Read about it here: https://pressley.house.gov/…/pressley-durbin…/ #StopExecutions” demonstrates the importance of taking a stand especially while at the same time .Executions nearly doubled in the U.S. last year, and soared abroad | Alabama Public Radio .
Last Thursday we had our monthly call “Alabama People For a better way forward than the DP” led by Ronald where we catch up on the news with friends on the death penalty in the nation and our state. Our friend and supporter Frank Brehany, Amnesty International who lives in the U.K. in south Wales was also on the call and published: “The Death Penalty: An Alabama Cruelty? The curious nature of execution methodology and ‘Official America’.
And then on Friday we were honored to have been invited to the Ida B.Wells Humanitarian Awards Ceremony and we were delighted that one of the honorees was Christine Freeman of our beloved Federal Defenders. Prior to that there was a reception which provided lots of opportunities to speak to people and hand out information about Jeffery Lee and how to help. It was very well received and proves once more that one has to speak in order to be heard!
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
