I have a friend on death row appealing in about 6 years. he has 3
counts of murder and 1 robbery. is there any hope or way that he can
get life in prison instead, how do i get help for him?

---

Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 01 Jun 2005 16:56 PDT

Is he innocent or guilty?  The only *real* hope is if he is, in fact,
innocent.  If he IS innocent, there are a couple agencies that can
review the case, and if they feel they can win in court, will take up
his cause and fight for him, for free.

If he is INNOCENT, and you would like to know about these agencies,
please clarify and I will place them in the Answer Box.

~~Cynthia

---

Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 01 Jun 2005 17:35 PDT

Where is he on death row? How the appeals process works depends on
jurisdiction. The right organizations to contact for help will also
depend on jurisdiction.

---

Clarification of Question by melie-ga on 05 Jun 2005 15:04 PDT

okay i will do my best. He has been indeed convicted of 3 murders. i
do not believe he was wrongly convicted, i guess what im trying to ask
is: does he have a chance of escaping the death penalty itself? what
are the odds thats he will get the daeth sntence carried out and how
can we avoid it? Too many people in prison are getting 15 to life or
life without possibility of parole so how can his sentenced be reduced
to something less harsh? i dont want anyones opinions on why he should
die, i dont want to hear that at all. I just want to know what steps
to take in order to keep him from being executed.Thank you.

---

Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 06 Jun 2005 09:32 PDT

Hello again melie-ga,

You didn't answer my question about location. The jurisdiction really
makes a big difference. For instance, a lot more people get executed
in Texas than many other places. How to go about getting help will
depend on where he is. Good luck.

~ czh ~

---

Clarification of Question by melie-ga on 07 Jun 2005 08:41 PDT

He is in California, San Quentin ST Prison. Thank you so much for all
your help, i cant tell you how desperate I am for some kind of answers

Hi Melie,

I have an answer for you. It's not what you expect, but it is
realistic, frank, and your understanding of this concept is the best
way to help your friend. At the very least, it should be a comfort to
you. Quite simply, it is VERY likely that through some means or
another, your friend will not die as a result of being executed by the
State of California.

The good news, is that your friend will likely spend many many years
on death row before being executed, if he is ever executed at all. He
has a better chance of dying of old age, or of an appeal being
successful, than of actually being executed. The reasons for this are
many, read on:


Old age is main menace on death row
http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/05/18/sections/local/local_columns/article_523892.php
(NOTE: LINK MAY NOT WORK UNLESS YOU REGISTER)
..."More than a hundred of the 644 inmates on California's death row
have been sitting there for two decades or more, with no final
resolution in sight. As I've noted before in this space, at the
current rate of executions in California it would take 800 years to
execute everyone currently on death row - and that's not even counting
the two or three dozen new death-row inmates added each year.

"More people on (California's) death row die from old age than from
lethal injection," notes Orange County district attorney spokeswoman
Susan Schroeder. "It's outrageous."

Schroeder is right on the numbers. According to Department of
Corrections figures, since 1978 some 45 death row inmates have died on
the row without being executed - one shot by corrections officers, one
stabbed by another inmate, one dead of a heart attack after being
pepper-sprayed, 12 by suicide and 30 of natural causes. Meanwhile,
just 11 have been executed..."

If the link above didn't work, click the link below to register at
this newspaper, and CLICK THROUGH when it asks if you want to go to
the original link you requested:
://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=2&q=http%3A//www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/05/18/sections/local/local_columns/article_523892.php&ei=20qmQrGRI4uisgGhsr3rBQ


This source claims 10% of death row inmates are ever executed:

Capital Punishment: When Justice Becomes Injustice
http://home.fuse.net/cgilbert/capital1.htm
..."Once on death row, the legal process starts all over. Some appeals
processes last up to fifteen years and cost taxpayers literally
millions of dollars. Evidently, this money is well spent, because only
about one in ten death row inmates are actually executed. The other
nine either have their sentences commuted to life in prison, or they
receive executive clemency..."


Consider this:

There are currently about 630 death row inmates, and approximately 25%
of those will wait an average of 5 years to be assigned an appeals
attorney. To illustrate this point:


Slow death - Endless appeals of capital cases - December 10, 2004 -
San Diego Union Tribune
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041210/news_lz1ed10bottom.html
..."In fact, "the leading cause of death on death row is old age,"
according to Ronald George, chief justice of the California Supreme
Court. In a meeting yesterday with the Union-Tribune editorial board,
George lamented that "the process" of administering justice to
convicted killers like Westerfield "is not working ideally."

Since the Legislature re-enacted the death penalty a generation ago,
California courts have sentenced more than 600 criminals to die. Yet,
since California resumed executions in 1992, only 10 killers have
received justice.

Justice George explained that the reason the average stay on
California's death row is so inordinately long, the reason so few
death row inmates actually are executed, is because California goes
far beyond most states in providing "due process." Unlike most other
states, California guarantees capital defendants highly qualified
defense attorneys at the trial court and appellate levels, at no
personal expense to the defendant. These defense attorneys must have
extensive experience in capital and other serious cases. They receive
public funds to conduct their own investigations and to hire expert
witnesses.

What's more, under state law, even when a jury votes to sentence a
defendant to death, the trial judge has the authority to overturn the
sentence if he feels the jury's decision was improper.

Moreover, every death penalty case is automatically appealed to the
state Supreme Court. And capital defendants are, of course, allowed to
challenge their convictions at every level of federal court..."


Also, contrary to popular belief, it's much more expensive to execute
someone in California that it is to give them life in prison. This
will become an important political issue in the future. Reference:

The Economics of Capital Punishment
http://www.mindspring.com/~phporter/econ.html
"The death penalty costs California $90 million annually beyond the
ordinary costs of the justice system - $78 million of that total is
incurred at the trial level." (Sacramento Bee, March 18, 1988).


It's not likely Governor Schwarzenegger will commute the sentences of
any death row inmates.  Reference:

ON THE ISSUES - Every Political Leader on Every Issue - Arnold Schwarzenegger 
http://www.ontheissues.org/Arnold_Schwarzenegger.htm
Scroll to  "Arnold Schwarzenegger on Crime" for a link to a pop-up
with this excerpt:

...QUOTE: "Death penalty is a necessary and effective deterrent."


Q: Do you support the death penalty?

A: Yes. I believe it is a necessary and effective deterrent to capital crimes.
Source: Campaign website, JoinArnold.com Aug 29, 2003


Q: Do you support the Three Strikes law?

A: Yes, and I believe it should not be modified. It has proven to be
an excellent deterrent

to violent crime.
Source: Campaign website, JoinArnold.com Aug 29, 2003 


There's some hope here, a state-wide effort to issue a Moratorium on
the death penalty in California:


Californians for a Moratorium on Executions
http://www.deathpenalty.org/index.php?pid=moratorium
..." Californians for a Moratorium on Executions (CME) is a coalition
of diverse groups

working for a time-out on executions and a study of the death penalty
in California. The coalition was founded in 2001 after more than 100
people had been released from death rows across the nation after
having been found wrongfully convicted. Even many supporters of the
death penalty have agreed that the system is broken and have joined
the call for a time-out on executions..."

Note the links below under:  "Get Involved Today!"

Also at the link above is this:

California Death Row Statistics
http://www.deathpenalty.org/index.php?pid=stats

Associated Press, October 17, 2004
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=105&scid=5
SCROLL TO:  ..."California Bar Association Urges Death Penalty Moratorium
A group of 450 attorneys participating in the Conference of Delegates
of the California Bar Association has urged a moratorium on the death
penalty in California until the state reviews whether capital
punishment laws are enforced fairly and uniformly.....The group called
on California lawmakers and Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggar to impose a
two-year moratorium on executions and to create an independent
committee focusing on race, the reliability of convictions and whether
the condemned had adequate legal representation. It also requested an
inquiry into the financial cost of capital punishment and whether
capital punishment is imposed too often. Executions are rare in
California even though it has the nation's largest death row of 640
inmates. One reason for the delay is that more than a quarter of those
on California's death row have not been given a lawyer for their first
and mandatory appeal to the state's Supreme Court. The state has
carried out 10 executions since the death penalty resumed in 1976..."

Also at the above link is this:

California
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=11&did=493


***********************************************************************

Additional Information and Resources

***********************************************************************

CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS - Death Sentence Status - March 31, 2002
http://www.corr.ca.gov/CommunicationsOffice/CapitalPunishment/death_sentence_status.asp
These numbers may have changed, but not much. On Death Row, time, and
justice, move very

slow.

STATE BY STATE - CALIFORNIA
http://deadlinethemovie.com/state/CA/index.php
Where California stands on the Death Penalty.

The Death Penalty in Black and White: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=45&did=539

Very Current News site - Death Penalty News & Updates
http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/

Software models death row outcomes
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-04-27-death-row-computing_x.htm

San Quentin Prison Discussion Forum
http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=258
Participents in this forum have family or loved ones in San Quentin
Prison and discuss

issues related to visiting, among other things.

Sentencing Law and Policy
http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/clemency_and_pardons/

Welcome to California Clemency
http://www.californiaclemency.org/

Capital Defender's Toolbox
http://capitaldefenseweekly.com/briefbank/index.html

Life Without Parole
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=555&scid=59

California DOC Death Row Tracking System
http://www.corr.ca.gov/CommunicationsOffice/CapitalPunishment/PDF/DeathRowList.pdf
You can track your friend's status here.

Here's a hand sketch of the visiting booths in San Quentin:
http://www.deadmantalking.com/engels/column37.htm

Death Row Photo
http://www.corr.ca.gov/CommunicationsOffice/CapitalPunishment/death_row/sq04.asp
If he was recently transferred to San Quentin, he is staying here.


***********************************************************************



Melie, 

Besides having a realistic understanding of the actual chance that
your friend will be executed --instead of winning an appeal, or dying
of old age in prison, you can focus on making the time your friend
spends in prison more hopeful and less lonely. That doesn't mean you
can't or shouldn't participate in activities and events for repealing
the death penalty in California, by all means, become a voice! But
save time for your friend, visit, write letters, send items he iss
allowed to have on death row:

Here is the visiting schedule:
http://www.corr.ca.gov/InstitutionsDiv/INSTDIV/facilities/fac_prison_SQ.asp#non-legal

Inmate Visiting Guidelines
http://www.corr.ca.gov/CDC/PDFs/InmateVisitingGuidelines.pdf



Good luck Melie, and good luck to your friend as well. I hope you find
comfort in my Answer.


~~Cynthia


Search strategy used at Google... I used the following words in many combinations:
California, death penalty, death sentence, commute, commutation, wait
on death row, statistics, execution, San Questin, outcome, inmates,
and more.

---

Clarification of Answer by cynthia-ga on 11 Jun 2005 22:34 PDT

Melie, I just ran accross a great resource for you. It's a Blog that
lists National Prison News.  You should check this weekly:

Inmates and Prisons - Archives Page (Current articles are all in a one-page list)
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/cat_inmates_and_prisons.html

Note this article:

Gov. Arnold and Releasing Lifers
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/010224.html


Also, you might consider signing up for Google Alerts, with the following keywords:

"death row" inmate commuted "life without parole"

(or any other words "or phrases" that are important)

Google Alerts:
://www.google.com/alerts


~~Cynthia

I never expected your answer to be this great. I just wanted you to
know that you have not only done your job, you have made an amazing
difference. I spoke with his mother tonight and we will be reviewing
all your information together saturday night so please dont erase this
entire answer page. Cynthia thank you so much for giving us a sense of
peace and hope. God Bless.

I sense that your real question has gone unnasked. There are no secret
means of turning back time or undoing what has been done. What did you
really (reasonably) come here hoping to be told?

tutuzdad-ga

http://www.abanet.org/deathpenalty/

tutuzdad 

I have noticed that you have given many fine answers to previously
asked questions. As part of your background in law enforcement , I
believe you have been of great assistance to many of the questioners
who use this service.

However I must say , I do not think your current comment is very helpful.
No matter what your views are on Capital Punishment, the questioner has asked 
a sensible and appropiate question. Furthermore I do not think it
should be any business of a researcher as to what the motivation of a
particular question is. As the customer , the questioner can ask any
question which does violate GA's policies. As I am sure you are aware,
if no researcher wishes to answer the question because it is silly,
too difficult to research or the price is too low then the question
should simply remain unanswered.
Mongolia

Thank you for offering that revealing insight into someone else's
question. I may be wrong in this instance, however I generally
recognize an underlying question (of greater depth and importance
perhaps) when I see it. I thought maybe the customer was desperately
seeking some FREE encouragement rather than a paid answer to a
frustrating and improbably solved dilemma. My intent was merely to
give the customer an opportunity to closely examine what prompted
him/her to seek assistance in the first place.

I never mentioned nor indicated my belief about capital punishment. To
the contrary, YOU have volunteered to reveal much more about YOUR
beliefs than I have mine. I appreciate your attempt to help clarify
the GA rules but as always I'm certain I all well within acceptable,
sympathetic and gentlemanly behavior with nothing but the customer's
true interest at heart.

Which is crueler
- chaining a mad dog 
- or putting it down

frde-ga, sine you brought up the question, what is your take on it?

"since" not "sine".  I really must proofread.

@Nelson

I find the death penalty problematic.
As you probably know, here in the UK we abolished it partly because of
the Timothy Evans case - although there were a few more - where
innocent people were executed.

Since then we have had a fair number of convictions that would
certainly have resulted in execution - yet have been reversed on
appeal - generally when 'evidence' was found faulty.
Those ghastly cot death convictions come to mind, also the Guildford Four.

On the other hand, there are cases where there is no doubt whatsoever,
reasonable or not, that people like Sutcliffe, Fred West, that mad
doctor etc, are 100% guilty and have forfeited all 'rights' to be
regarded as a 'social being'.

Filling up jails with people who can /never/ be released is not very
practical, and is, in my view, cruel.

I would support bringing back the death penalty, but only for totally
exceptional cases, and only after the cases have been investigated by
a totally reliable body - one that is, if anything completely separate
from normal law enforcement bodies.

Perhaps I would implement it by permitting such people to commit suicide.

I don't see the death penalty, or even life imprisonment as much of a
deterrent for people who (can) step so far beyond the limits of social
behaviour that there is zero chance of rehabilitation.

An unpleasant subject.

tutzdad 
I'm back. Just wished to follow up on your last comment in this thread.
You say
>I never mentioned nor indicated my belief about capital punishment.

True. However the question has everything to do with Capital punishment
and since you question the questioners motivation in using GA's service,
it would be reasonable to infer your views on capital punishment may have
in some way prompted your comment. Perhaps you could enlighten us on this.
You say 
>YOU have volunteered to reveal much more about YOUR
>beliefs than I have mine.

I have volunteered absolutely nothing about my beliefs on Capital punishment.

you say
>I thought maybe the customer was desperately
>seeking some FREE encouragement rather than a paid answer to a
>frustrating and improbably solved dilemma.

Now you could be right but unless you can read the questioner's mind
there is no way you can know what the questioner's true motivation in
asking the question.

Now of course you may be telepathic in which case you will know the
questioner's motivation for asking the question and my views on
capital punishment. In this case I am totally out of my depth (grin)

However I do wish to reiterate my very humble opinion that a GA
researcher should take each question at face value and answer it a
clear and objective manner. I would have thought thats what
researchers get paid to do.
  
There are of course enough non-researchers out there who can make all sorts
of comments both helpful and unhelpful and which may also question a
questioner's motivation for asking the question in the first place.
   
As for capital punishment, there are probably enough people out there who
will venture an opinion on this particular subject. :-)
Regards

Mongolia

>>There are of course enough non-researchers out there who can make all sorts
of comments both helpful and unhelpful...<<

Yes indeed. It speaks volumes.

@Mongolia

I did not read either of Tutusdad's comments as saying anything like
what you read into them. Actually both probably hit the nail on the
head.

What does rather disturb me is the suggestion that GA Researchers
should /not/ be permitted to express opinions - either in comments or
in answers.

frde

regarding your comment:
>What does rather disturb me is the suggestion that GA Researchers
>should /not/ be permitted to express opinions - either in comments or
>in answers.

Yes I was rather curious about what the rules are on this for researchers 
so I looked up the "GOOGLE ANSWERS RESEARCHER TRAINING MANUAL"
(https://answers.google.com/answers/researchertraining.html)

Please note two points in the training manual:

"Acknowledge when you are including opinion or an analysis you have
done into your answer"

"Do not answer questions where you cannot be objective due to a
conflict of interest (e.g. financial stake in a particular product,
service or company, political perspective, etc)."

So it would appear from Google's point of view it is fine if a
researcher ventures an opinion so long as they clearly acknowledege it
is their opinion.
The second quote would seem to suggest however that if a researcher
has a very personal interest in a topic then they should perhaps avoid
answering a question related to the topic.
(It would be interesting to know what some researchers have to say on this) c)  

On  a last note it would appear that GA researcher training manual would 
refer to both answers AND comments that GA researcher may make.

Hope this helps and have a nice day.
Mongolia

@Mongolia

I think that we agree then ?

Probably your 'hair trigger' was activated by other knowledge/experience.

It is true the Training Manual states:

"Do not answer questions where you cannot be objective due to a
conflict of interest (e.g. financial stake in a particular product,
service or company, political perspective, etc)."

I have a Comment about your interpretation:

..."The second quote would seem to suggest however that if a researcher
has a very personal interest in a topic then they should perhaps avoid
answering a question related to the topic..."

To the contrary, Google Answers Researchers are much MORE likely to
Answer, or Comment on a Question, if the subject matter is something
they are familiar with, or is within the scope of their personal
interests.

Tutuzdad never stated his opinion on the death penalty.  He asked a question:

..."I sense that your real question has gone unnasked. There are no secret
means of turning back time or undoing what has been done. What did you
really (reasonably) come here hoping to be told?..."

Many times, the motivation of a Questioner is of paramount importance
in determining how to Answer. There have been countless times I have
asked the Questioner WHY they are asking the question. When we know
the WHY, we are able to think of new ways to search and then sift
through the results to find the Answer much more easily.

There are countless examples of a Question, resulting Answer, then the Asker says:

...that's not exactly what I need because [motivation for asking]...

Ayway, melie has responded with her motivation: She wants to save him
from being put to death. He DID commit the murders (so my sources
would not help), she just wants to know if it's possible to get his
sentence commuted to life-in-prison-without-the possibility-of-parole.

MELIE:  Anything is possible, but it is not likely. As czh-ga stated,
we need to know the STATE he is in.

You can get some information here:

Death Penalty Information Center:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/FactSheet.pdf

In the VERY unlikely event your friends sentence was reduced, it would
likely be because the Governor of the state he is confined in commuted
the death sentences of ALL death row inmates in that state.  It has
happened as recently as January 2003:

The Injustice of the U.S. Death Penalty
http://rwor.org/a/v24/1181-1190/1184/deathrow.htm
..."On January 10 and 11, in his last days of being the governor of
Illinois, George Ryan announced his decisions concerning the 171
prisoners on Illinois' death row, granting all of them clemency. 164
would have their sentences reduced to life without parole. Three had
their sentences reduced to 40 years, while four others were pardoned
as innocent victims, forced to give false confessions through brutal
police torture..."

QUOTE BY:
Illinois Governor George Ryan,
January 11, 2003

..."The legislature couldn't reform it. Lawmakers won't repeal it. But
I will not stand for it. I must act. Our capital system is haunted by
the demon of error -- error in determining guilt, and error in
determining who among the guilty deserves to die. Because of all of
these reasons, today I am commuting the sentences of all death row
inmates."

Good luck Melie, let us know what state he is confined in, ..then we
can look up that Governor's views on Capital Punishment and give an
opinion as to the likelyhood of this happening.

~~Cynthia

Melie,

You have no idea how wonderful it feels to me, to read your comments
about my answer. To know that I have given comfort to the family and
friends of someone sitting on death row is very gratifying, it's why I
answer questions here at Google Answers. The chance to make a
difference doesn't come along every day, and I am very happy to know
there are at least two people on this earth today that feel better,
more hopeful, because of my efforts.

Originally, when I started poking around, I had no intention of
answering, however, when I uncovered the truth, I felt you would want
to know what I found.

You don't need to worry about this answer disappearing, Google will
not remove it, ever. It is permanently on the Internet. In fact, you
can print it and send it to your friend if you like.

Your kind words mean a lot to me, they will be with me for a very long
time. I will be thinking about you and his Mother on Saturday night.

Thanks for the tip Melie, I appreciate it, but your kind words mean so
much more, thanks for taking the time to tell me your feelings.

~~Cynthia