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"The Ninth Circuit got it right. We should take the time to make sure the serious issues and public concerns are addressed," said Natasha Minsker, Death Penalty Policy Director at the ACLU of Northern California. "We should also be considering the larger issue: our communities will not be any safer if Albert Brown is executed than if he were sentenced to life without possibility of parole."
The first California execution in nearly five years was rescheduled to 9pm on Thursday, September 30, following a temporary reprieve from Governor Schwarzenegger. This is just three hours before one of the lethal injection drugs will expire. Late Monday evening, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to Judge Fogel's court for reconsideration. The Ninth Circuit ruling cited: "After a four-year moratorium on executions in California, multiple proceedings in federal court, a state administrative law proceeding, and state court appeals, it is incredible to think that the deliberative process might be driven by the expiration date of the execution drug."
Death penalty opponents across the state are holding firm in their plans to protest the scheduled execution at San Quentin, call.
PLEASE NOTE: Some demonstrations have been rescheduled. Bay Area and Sacramento events will take place on Thursday, September 30..Los Angeles and San Diego demonstrations will still take place on Tuesday, September 28. Speakers to be determined.
Bay Area
Public Demonstration: September 30, 6:00pm
San Quentin State Prison, East Gate
Sacramento
Demonstration: September 30, 8:00 pm
State Capitol Building (11th & L Streets)
Los Angeles
Demonstration: September 28, 5:00 pm, followed by a march
Westwood Federal Building
11000 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles
(March to St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Community, 10750 Ohio Avenue)
San Diego
Press Conference: September 28, 5:00 pm
Hall of Justice
330 West Broadway, San Diego
Information about the public demonstrations online.
Additional information available at www.deathpenalty.org.
"The stop-and-go of Albert Brown's scheduled execution is an absolute outrage and just another example that the death penalty is broken beyond repair," said Aqeela Sherrills, father of a murder victim and outreach coordinator for California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "We must stop putting families on this roller coaster ride."
Background Information
On Friday afternoon, September 24, US District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel issued a ruling clearing the way for the execution to take place. In an unprecedented decision, Judge Fogel offered Mr. Brown the choice to be executed by an unwritten and untested 1-drug procedure in violation of state law or to move forward with the existing 3-drug protocol which has been widely criticized as being prone to error. On September 27 the Governor issued a 45 hour reprieve, postponing the execution until 9 PM on September 30. Californians will gather across the state to protest the government's action and call on state leaders to replace the costly and ineffective death penalty with life without the possibility of parole and work and restitution to victims' families.
Learn more:
Read more about California's broken death penalty system: www.aclunc.org/deathpenalty
Timeline of Legal Chaos in CA's Rush to Execute
Urgent: What You Can Do to Stop the Execution
