Letter to Governor Riley - 1 November 2007

1 November 2007

Governor Bob Riley

Dear Governor Riley,

This is my seventh letter to you. In previous letters, I invited you to answer me by email, if you should wish to do so. My offer remains open for you to either answer via email to justicefortommy@gmail.com or to post your answer as a comment on my blog at www.justicefortommy.blogspot.com.

It is true what they say: “Bad news usually follows close on the heels of good news”; good news in the sense that the US Supreme Court stayed the execution of Earl Wesley Berry of Mississippi and bad news because the Alabama Supreme Court ordered the execution date of Thomas Arthur for 6 December 2007.

However, with the trend, as things are developing now, I remain confident that his imminent execution will be stayed until the US Supreme Court has ruled on Baze vs Rees.

I’m sure you have noticed these new developments, some of which are:

1. The Supreme Court of Ohio agreeing that Common Pleas Judge James Burge, a trial judge, will be allowed to consider the constitutionality of lethal injection before a capital punishment trial has even started. Imagine that!!! History in the making!!!

2. Judge Lynn O'Malley Taylor of Marlin County in California issuing an injunction Wednesday that bars California from using a new plan to execute condemned inmates by lethal injection.

3. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, en banc, agreeing sua sponte to stay Siebert’s execution right there in Alabama, even after setting aside the original order and not giving a date for the en banc hearing.

4. District Attorney Henry Garza of Texas, the top execution State in the USA, saying that the district will fall in line with other districts across the country, moving into a holding pattern for its capital punishment method. He also asked a judge to cancel a Jan. 24 date for Bobby Woods.

5. Nueces County Prosecutor Carlos Valdez in Corpus Christi deciding not to seek any more execution dates until the Baze vs Rees matter has been resolved.

6. District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal of the Harris County District Attorney's Office saying Wednesday that his office will place some of its capital cases on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the lethal injection process next year.

7. Roe Wilson, an assistant DA who handles appellate matters in capital cases, saying that she will ask that an upcoming execution date for Derrick Sonnier, scheduled to die Feb. 26, be withdrawn.

8. Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins saying that his office will ask to withdraw the execution date of Feb. 21 for Karl Chamberlain of Dallas.

And so the list grows daily. In short, it is evident that the execution chamber will be shutting down until a decision in Baze vs Rees has been reached.

I suppose the “die hards”, whether political or judicial, will sooner or later have to realize that this is a trend indicating that an unofficial moratorium is being established, not so? Let’s face it; it is the best thing that could have happened since apple pie, as the whole system of conflicting decisions, lack of transparency, secretiveness, indecision, doubt, etc., could possibly be addressed by the US Supreme Court, once and for all.

Speaking of “transparency”, a factor high on your agenda, I believe.

Seeing as you are an ardent advocate of “transparency” and taking this from the Honorable Judge James Burge of Ohio, can you please be “transparent” and provide the following information to Thomas Arthur, as to your execution protocol in Alabama:

1. A detailed list of all equipment and supplies used in the lethal injection process.

2. Specifications and maintenance procedures for all equipment and supplies.

3. Specifications on the set-up of the intravenous bag of fluids, drip chambers, flow regulators, IV tubing and injection port.

4. Specifications, plans and procedures used when intravenous access cannot be obtained through an arm or a leg.

5. The physical design, layout and dimensions (including any blueprints or diagrams) of the execution chamber and surrounding areas used in the lethal injection process.

6. Specifications and maintenance procedures for how the drugs used in the lethal injection process are acquired, stored, maintained, along with an examination of their shelf life and expiration dates, and how they are prepared for administration.

7. An exhaustive and detailed list setting forth the qualifications, certifications, training, experience and background of all people who participate in any way in the preparation and carrying out of the lethal injection process.

8. A detailed and descriptive list of the new changes to the protocol, taking into account and revealing any research done that indicates such changes satisfying the provisions of the 8th Amendment, as being structured in such a way as to ensure that the provisions of the 8th Amendment have been met and which will ensure that a person will not suffer pain and agony after such changes have been instituted.

9. The procedure that is intended to be followed to resuscitate a condemned person, once the first and/or second and/or third chemical injections have been delivered, should a stay be ordered. This to include the qualifications, certifications, training, experience and background of all people who would then participate in such resuscitation, as well as the equipment to be used during such resuscitation, in which way it will be used and for how long it will be used before resuscitation will be abandoned as not being viable.

10. The procedure that is intended to be followed to ensure that there is continuous testing whether a condemned person is fully sedated throughout the procedure, what method and equipment would be used to determine this, in which way would it be used, for how long will it be used and at which point will it stop being used. This to include the qualifications, certifications, training, experience and background of all people who would then participate in such testing.

11. The procedure that is intended to be followed should the first drug, which is intended to sedate the condemned person, suddenly wears off, without a person designated to test for sedation, noticing, whilst the person(s) doing such testing, after having ascertained him/herself that the condemned person is sedated, signals for the successive drugs to be administered.

Governor, if you say that nothing is wrong with the protocol, that the administration thereof is in a humane fashion and that it is properly executed, then you wouldn’t be afraid to give the above information now, would you?

Having said all that, I AGAIN ask you, for the sake of decency, humanity, mercy and justice, to allow DNA testing to be done in Arthur’s case and to reveal to the citizens of Alabama the contents of the lethal injection protocol being used to execute condemned persons. Your Creator, who entrenches the right to life in Section 1 of your Constitution, demands it of you.

Yours Faithfully,

Dr. Thinus Coetzee
justicefortommy@gmail.com