EXECUTION WATCH: KEITH THURMOND MARCH 7

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Keith Thurmond
By Execution Watch
KPFT FM 90.1 Houston

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- The busiest death chamber in the industrialized West is preparing to put the 480th notch in its belt since the U.S. Supreme Court reopened the gates to the death penalty in 1976.

Keith Thurmond's attorney missed a filing deadline, causing Thurmond to lose his federal appeal, the last constitutionally required review before a death sentence may be carried out. Execution Watch will provide live coverage and commentary Wednesday on his execution.

Execution Watch's live coverage and commentary will include reports from outside the death house, a vigil report, a legal analysis of the case, and an interview with attorney and author John Bessler about his new book offering an historical perspective on the Eighth Amendment.

The broadcast may be heard starting at 6 p.m. Central Time Wednesday on KPFT FM 90.1 Houston, a flagship station of the nonprofit Pacifica Network, or online at http://executionwatch.org > Listen.

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE

KEITH THURMOND, 52, a former master mechanic who was convicted of shooting and killing his estranged wife and her boyfriend in Magnolia in 2001. He lost his federal appeal when his attorney missed a filing deadline, essentially waiving Thurmond’s last constitutionally required review before the death sentence could be carried out. Background at http://executionwatch.org > Keith Thurmond > Backpage.


SHOW LINEUP
Host: OTIS MACLAY, a broadcast veteran and former program director of KPFT, he co-hosts The Monitor on Monday nights. He is also technical director of Execution Watch.


Legal Analyst: JIM SKELTON, a legal educator and retired attorney, the native Texan has seen capital trials from both the prosecution defense tables. Joining him will be attorneys SUSAN ASHLEY and LARRY DOUGLAS.


Featured Interview: JOHN BESSLER, author of Cruel & Unusual: The American Death Penalty and the Founders’ Eighth Amendment, exploring the Constitutional protection in light of the founders' ambivalent views on capital punishment. Bessler is associate professor at University of Baltimore School of Law and adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center.


Reporter, Death House, Huntsville: GLORIA RUBAC founder and leader, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, abolitionmovement.org.


Reporter, Vigil, Houston: DAVE ATWOOD, a founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, will report from the vigil the group sponsors in Houston,  www.tcadp.org.


NEXT SCHEDULED EXECUTION
On March 28 Texas plans to kill JESSE HERNANDEZ. We’ll broadcast; see executionwatch.org.


PRODUCER: Elizabeth, eliza.tx.usa @gmail.com.
STUDIO ENGINEER: Doyle.
THEME:  By Victoria Panetti, SheMonster International, myspace.com/shemonster.

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Execution Watch: Jesse Hernandez, Wednesday

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Jesse Hernandez

The state that carries out more executions than any other plans to put to death Jessie Hernandez Wednesday. The state killing will be covered live on Execution Watch, KPFT FM 90.1 Houston.
Unless a stay is issued, the show will broadcast from 6 to 7 p.m., Central Time, streaming at: www.executionwatch.org > Listen. The events will also be discussed on Facebook > Execution Watch.

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE:
JESSE HERNANDEZ, 47, convicted in the 2001 beating death of a 10-month-old boy he was babysitting in West Dallas. Police linked Hernandez to the slaying through traces of his DNA mixed with the boy's blood on a pillowcase and an article of clothing.

SHOW LINEUP
Host: MARLO BLUE, anchor of the afternoon news at KPFT, where she has also held leadership roles behind the scenes..

Legal Analyst: JIM SKELTON, a legal educator and retired attorney who has seen capital trials from both the prosecution defense tables. Joining him will be criminal defense attorneys SUSAN ASHLEY and LARRY DOUGLAS.

Featured Interview: DAVID GARDNER, author most recently of Peculiar Institution: America’s Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition, he is professor of law and sociology at New York University. The UK native was a founding editor of Edinburgh Law Review and was founding editor-in-chief of Punishment and Society: The International Journal of Penology.

Reporter, Death House, Huntsville: GLORIA RUBAC founder and leader, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, abolitionmovement.org.

Reporter, Vigil, Huntsvile: DAVE ATWOOD, a founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, he’ll be escorting a group of high school students in Huntsville  www.tcadp.org.

NEXT SCHEDULED EXECUTION
On April 26, Texas plans to kill BEUNKA ADAMS. We’ll broadcast; see executionwatch.org.

PRODUCER: Elizabeth, eliza.tx.usa @gmail.com.
STUDIO ENGINEER: Doyle.
THEME:  By Victoria Panetti, SheMonster International, myspace.com/shemonster.

(END)

Bob Ray Sanders: Time to end death penalty in Texas

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That's the title of Bob Ray Sander's column at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Two events last week -- one in the Connecticut Senate chamber, the other in a Dallas courtroom -- helped once again to focus attention on two of the nation's most glaring flaws: wrongful convictions and capital punishment.

In Dallas, three more men were exonerated for crimes they did not commit, bringing to 30 the total number of exonerations in Dallas County since 2001. One of the men had been sentenced to 99 years in prison for a 1994 violent purse snatching involving a 79-year-old woman.
About 1,600 miles away in Hartford, the Connecticut Senate voted 20-16 to repeal the death penalty based partly on the growing evidence of wrongful convictions and the possibility that an innocent person could be executed. The state's House of Representatives is likely to approve the measure soon, and the governor has vowed to sign it into law.
If the measure is enacted, Connecticut will join a growing number of states (the fifth in five years) to abolish capital punishment. California voters will weigh in on the subject in a ballot initiative in November.

After the Dallas defendants were officially cleared in court, both District Attorney Craig Watkins and District Judge Lena Levario declared that it was time to have a discussion about race and justice, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Actually we need a discussion about much more than that in America.

The latest Dallas case again revealed that prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense and that police, during their initial investigation, subjected the suspects to prejudicial identification tactics. These kinds of injustices cry out for discussion.

How many innocent people are behind bars based on overzealous police work, unethical prosecution or just honest mistakes? How many might be on Death Row?
When it comes to executions, there are signs that the nation's thirst for blood is waning, bringing some hope to those of us who have been fighting against capital punishment for so long.
Even in Texas, which has the busiest death chamber in the country, the numbers are decreasing. Texas juries are sentencing fewer people to death, and the population on Death Row is declining.

Texas executed 13 people last year, the lowest number since 1996 when three people were killed by lethal injection. In 2000, a record 40 executions occurred in the state.
Four people have been put to death this year in Huntsville, bringing the total to 481 since 1982, when Texas resumed executions after the Supreme Court had declared capital punishment "cruel and unusual" in 1972.

Today 298 people are on Texas' Death Row, including nine women. The ethnic breakdown is 29.2 percent Anglo, 40.6 percent black, 28.5 percent Hispanic and 1.7 percent other. At the end of fiscal 2001, the Death Row population was 446.
Those are all good signs, but not good enough.

If more states continue to lead the way, maybe the Lone Star State will eventually follow. New York, New Jersey, Illinois and New Mexico recently repealed capital punishment, and The Associated Press reports that Kansas and Kentucky are considering it.
Many people acknowledge that we have a flawed justice system, and that's understandable with any structure that depends on human judgment and actions.

But it is because of the fallibility of humans that we mortals should not be charged with deciding to take a life -- the one thing we can never give back in case of a mistake -- in the name of the state.

The progress toward abolishment of the death penalty has been steady, but slow. It's now time to pick up the momentum.

I'm ready to see the movement gather steam, wage an all-out legal assault and awareness campaign to change these barbaric laws one state legislature at a time.
We are a nation that should be better than this. Let's vow to end capital punishment in this country, now and forever.

Bob Ray Sanders' column appears Sundays and Wednesdays.             817-390-7775      
Twitter: @BobRaySanders

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/04/10/3873758/time-to-end-death-penalty-in-texas.html#storylink=cpy

Read  more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/04/10/3873758/time-to-end-death-penalty-in-texas.html#storylink=cpy

Execution Watch: Beunka Adams

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Beunka Adams' case has been on a roller coaster over the past few days, with a stay of execution issued Monday, the stay lifted Wednesday, and the U.S. Supreme Court expected to rule Thursday on whether his execution will take place as scheduled that evening. If the execution is carried out, we will do a live broadcast designed to lay out the realities, versus the rhetoric, of the Texas death penalty. Spread the word.

RADIO PROGRAM PREVIEW
EXECUTION WATCH
Unless a stay is issued, we'll broadcast on ...
Thurs, Apr 26, 2012, 6-7 PM Central Time
KPFT FM Houston 90.1 - HD3 or
Online: www.executionwatch.org > Listen Live to HD3

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE:
BEUNKA ADAMS, 29, and his fall partner, Richard Cobb, were convicted of abducting and killing a man during the robbery of a convenience store in East Texas. Cobb remains on death row. Adams was 19 at the time of the offense; Cobb was 18. On Monday, a federal judge in Texarkana granted Adams a stay of execution. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott appealed the stay, which was lifted Wednesday by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Background at www.executionwatch.org > Backpage on Beunka.

SHOW LINEUP
Host: MARLO BLUE, anchor of the afternoon news at KPFT, where she also has leadership roles behind the scenes..

Legal Analyst: JIM SKELTON, a legal educator and retired attorney who has seen capital trials from both the prosecution and defense tables. Joining him will be criminal defense attorneys SUSAN ASHLEY and LARRY DOUGLAS.

Featured Interview: CHARITY LEE, Executive director of the ELLA Foundation. Lee’s father was murdered when she was a girl. Her mother was tried and acquitted in his death. Lee established the ELLA foundation after her 13-year-old son sexually assaulted and murdered her 4-year-old daughter in 2007.

Reporter, Death House, Huntsville: GLORIA RUBAC founder and leader, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, abolitionmovement.org.

Reporter, Vigil, Houston: DAVE ATWOOD, a founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, he’ll be escorting a group of high school students in Huntsville  www.tcadp.org.

NEXT SCHEDULED EXECUTION
On May 2, Texas plans to kill ANTHONY BARTEE. We’ll broadcast; see executionwatch.org.

PRODUCER: Elizabeth, eliza.tx.usa @gmail.com.
STUDIO ENGINEER: Doyle.
THEME:  By Victoria Panetti, SheMonster International, myspace.com/shemonster.

Execution Watch: Anthony Bartee

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Anthony Bartee
By Execution WatchHUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Texas plans to put to death Anthony Bartee Wednesday at 6 p.m. despite lingering questions about tests of crime-scene evidence. Unless Bartee receives a stay, Execution Watch will broadcast live coverage and commentary designed to show the reality, versus the rhetoric, of the Texas death penalty. Tune in. And spread the word.
RADIO SHOW PREVIEW
EXECUTION WATCH
Unless a stay is issued, we'll broadcast on ...
Wed., May 2, 2012, 6-7 PM Central Time
KPFT FM Houston 90.1 or
Online: www.executionwatch.org > Listen

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE:
ANTHONY BARTEE, 55, convicted in the August 1996 robbery murder of a friend,. He was given a stay before his scheduled execution in February so additional DNA testing could be done. When an execution date of May 2 was announced, Bartee attorney David Dow sent the court a letter saying the new date should not have been set because DNA testing hadn’t been done. Dow protested that no notice of a hearing for a new execution date was sent to him or Bartee. Background at www.executionwatch.org > Backpage on Beunka.

SHOW LINEUP
Host: MARLO BLUE, anchor of the afternoon news at KPFT, where she has also held leadership roles behind the scenes..

Legal Analyst: JIM SKELTON, a legal educator and retired attorney who has seen capital trials from both the prosecution and defense tables. Joining him will be criminal defense attorneys SUSAN ASHLEY and LARRY DOUGLAS.

Featured Interview: BILL HABERN, a founding partner of Habern, O’Neil, Buckley & Lang, the oldest full-time corrections law firm in Texas. Last year, he received the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. His media appearances have included Oprah Winfrey, 20-20, Good Morning America, and other national TV and radio programs. This is his Execution Watch debut. www.paroletexas.com.

Reporter, Death House, Huntsville: GLORIA RUBAC, founder and leader, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, abolitionmovement.org.

Reporter, Vigil, Huntsvile: DAVE ATWOOD, a founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, ww.tcadp.org.

NEXT SCHEDULED EXECUTION
On May 16, Texas plans to kill the severely mentally ill STEVEN STALEY.. We’ll broadcast;

PRODUCER: Elizabeth, eliza.tx.usa @gmail.com.
STUDIO ENGINEER: Doyle.
THEME:  By Victoria Panetti, SheMonster International, myspace.com/shemonster. 

Chuck Season 5 Episode 6 Chuck Versus The Curse

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Chuck Season 5 Episode 6 Chuck Versus The Curse, Chuck and Sarah race against time to take down a dangerous computer virus, pitting them against Robyn Cunnings (guest star Rebecca Romijn), a ruthless spy who will stop at nothing to get what she needs. Meanwhile, Ellie and Awesome's date night takes a dangerous turn and Morgan is sent on a special mission to recover Chuck's P.A.N.T.S.

A mission to track down a computer super virus leads Chuck to return to his roots as a hacker -- and to call on his biggest competition, Gertrude Verbanksi (guest star Carrie-Anne Moss), for help. Elsewhere, a new Buy More employee (guest star Danny Pudi) complicates Jeff and Lester's friendship.

Flying Wild Alaska Season 2 Episode 8 Top of the World

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Flying Wild Alaska Season 2 Episode 8 Top of the World, A group of world-renowned rock climbers arrive in Unk and Jim must fly them deep into the remote Brooks Range. Luke flies a Barrow whaling crew over the sea ice in search of a site to hunt the Bowhead whale so that they can feed their hungry community.

A late winter storm menaces operations; Ben deals with icing conditions while Erik employs drastic measures to ship medicine to a snowed-in village.