County OKs sheriffs precinct-funding plan | FLORIDA TODAY | floridatoday.com

“Sheriff Jack Parker successfully shot down questions raised Tuesday over the legality of his plans to build a $4 million precinct headquarters in North Brevard … Any funding shortfalls would be made up through jail inmate telephone charges, which amounts to about $600,000 annually.”

County OKs sheriffs precinct-funding plan | FLORIDA TODAY | floridatoday.com.

The Florida Today article says that federal forfeiture funds will help pay for construction of the new building. For as long as Brevard helps cover up FBI use of charlatan dog handler John Preston, it’s a pretty safe bet that D.C. pursestrings will remain loose.

Jack Parker isn’t running for sheriff again. Candidates include the FDLE’s Wayne Ivey and Brevard deputy Gary Harrell. Ivey and I spoke on the phone years ago about Brevard’s early-80′s scores of  Preston frame-ups; he denied the obvious conspiracy, which innocents like Gary Bennett are still trying to get out from under (that put others six-feet-under). Harrell’s name is familiar to me from Jeff Abramowski’s 21st century frame-up; Harrell attempted to solicit false testimony from two inmates against Abramowski … I have copies of their sworn statements.

Apparently, a citizen (or citizens) noted that the Hatch Act required Ivey to resign from the FDLE, which he did. But not on August 2nd when he declared … on September 22nd, apparently post Hatch Act citizen inquiry.

It’s predictable that evidence will be lost in the move to the new facility, as predictable as future Brevard jail suicides, and future Brevard suicides-by-cop, and premeditated Brevard beat-downs like elderly Albert Flowers’, all while Florida Today continues to portray Brevard as a safe and welcoming place to live, due to the imaginary diligence and honor of its public servants.

Sheriff Parker’s predecessor Phil Williams moved one county west into Orange County law enforcement, where Preston had been used to convict Linroy Bottoson with FBI participation (executed in 2002). I’m hoping that Parker picks a new line of work instead of making murky lateral moves predictable, too.

Majority of Florida state senators rejected magical math of prison privatization

Despite how silly it is to claim that significant savings mystically spring forth from involving thousands of idle, unnecessary people in the delivery of a service, many Florida legislators successfully got their self-serving prattle – that prison privatization would indeed save Floridians millions via magical math – in print.

If there’s was a clearer, more callous way for the snake oil senators (and some of the media) to tell corrections professionals, “We never valued you to begin with, so just deal with it … ” I sure can’t think of it.

Prison privatization is cruel to the people that are actually necessary to provide the delivery of the service; it fires them from jobs they currently hold and then hires them back at low wages with few benefits … their pensions disappear. At suddenly lower wages, their mortgage obligations are no longer affordable; the same goes for car payments and other contractual obligations. They’re ruined, overnight.

Other workers get ruined soon after, when they lose their jobs to prisoners that are rented out as a low-ball labor force for manufacturing, agricultural and other work.

Meanwhile, the idle, unnecessary people soak up what necessary people once were reasonably paid … not quite soaking up everything at first, because they must show figures to validate the magical math – initially. Later the idle and unnecessary will soak up all the difference, and then some. And then some more. They’ll lobby for tougher sentences for soft crimes to keep prison head counts high. They’ll lobby to incarcerate undocumented workers. They’ll lobby and lobby until our shameful stats worsen … with 5% of the world’s population, we incarcerate 25% of the world’s population.

If I had the means, I’d arrange a twenty-one gun salute for the 21 Florida state senators that said “no” to prison privatization. They said “yes” to real math, “yes” to appreciating professional work, “yes” to Floridians keeping their jobs, “yes” to keeping tax dollars in Florida, “yes” to all the right stuff.

Thank you, Senator Braynon,

Thank you, Senator Bullard,

Thank you, Senator Dean,

Thank you, Senator Diaz de la Portilla,

Thank you, Senator Dockery,

Thank you, Senator Evers,

Thank you, Senator Fasano,

Thank you, Senator Gibson,

Thank you, Senator Jones,

Thank you, Senator Joyner,

Thank you Senator Latvala,

Thank you, Senator Margolis,

Thank you, Senator Montford,

Thank you, Senator Oelrich,

Thank you, Senator Rich,

Thank you, Senator Ring,

Thank you, Senator Sachs,

Thank you, Senator Siplin,

Thank you, Senator Smith,

Thank you, Senator Sobel,

Thank you, Senator Storms.

Convict dies while on hunger strike in California | The Raw Story

Christian Alexander Gomez died on February 2, six days after he and 31 other inmates in the Corcoran State Prison’s administrative segregation unit began refusing food, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

via Convict dies while on hunger strike in California | The Raw Story.

Santorum says “Women need to know their place” – Free Wood Post

Update – 2/19/12 – In response to Kathleen’s comment, below, I’ll make this post clearer.

Free Wood Post publishes political satire, and this satirist had extrapolated Santorum’s anti-women screeds – such as rape being an act of God – into one faux campaign speech.

I stand by my comment that Santorum is delusional, and that the media won’t point it out unless he runs out of campaign funds to buy ads. Santorum said that President John F. Kennedy had it backwards in putting the Constitution ahead of the Catholic Church. Putting the Constitution ahead of your personal religious beliefs just happens to be one of the job requirements for being our president … the single most important job requirement, as a matter of fact.

Santorum’s act-of-God rape opinion is delusion-based, not research-based. Forensic DNA cases indicated that test maternal-link only now cost $2,250 per piece of evidence, and take months to conduct, while – in 2004 – DNA tests that identified specific individuals cost under $32 per piece of evidence and took only days to conduct. Increased demand and increased automation since 2004 should have made tests cheaper and faster, not the reverse.

One rapist averaged four new victims a year in the time between his DNA was first captured until Ohio inexpensively cleared up their DNA backlog in 2004. The federal government dished out more than $88M of taxpayer money last year to clear up backlogs. At 2004 prices, $88M would have clearly identified individuals related to 2,750,000 pieces of evidence; at today’s prices, $88M will identify family members related to 39,111 pieces of evidence, and tests will have to be redone to be of full use in prosecutions … and in the federal DNA database.

Rapists and killers remain on the streets – finding new victims – because corporations are insanely overcharging for DNA tests. God has nothing to do with it, but corporate greed and government incompetence and/or collusion sure the hell does. 

Political pundits are portraying the GOP primaries as a political horse race, with most ignoring that voter turnout is so low that it’s obvious that the public instead perceives this as a horse’s ass race. The media is raking in countless millions for GOP-on-GOP attack ads, and not about to jeopardize those incomes. In their acts of greed, they’ll let Santorum prattle on about acts of God, and let the pedophile-protecting Catholic Bishops prattle on in support, too.

What I just wrote isn’t funny. Few people, if any, will share it. Most people get overwhelmed by the depth and breadth of public corruption that allows corporations to hamstring justice and keep violent offenders on the street, on our dimes. They tune it out, and let Good Morning America and other newz shows tell them all about royalty, celebrities, and the GOP horse’s ass race they’re pretending is a horse race – for fun and profit.

The Justice for All act is a fraud on the public of monumental proportions. The proof is in my solo ongoing battle to have the FTC and DoJ Antitrust Division act to reduce forensic DNA test prices to 2004 levels or below, a battle that the newz, Bar, ACLU and innocence organizations didn’t show up for. See? Not funny at all … this update won’t get the 9,000+ “shares” that Free Wood Post‘s Santorum satire generated.

http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/press_releases/release/?id=d0c5b1ad-264b-4fdb-b74c-928a458d068a#statement

“It has been my experience that when dealing with females, you need to treat them as though they have a mental disorder … especially those that are constantly seeking equality in the workplace, the military, and in the home. Women need to know their place and need to know when it is okay for them to speak. They were put on this earth for two reasons, and two reasons alone: taking care of their husband, and giving birth to his children… that is all. Any woman who tells you otherwise is obviously touting the liberal agenda of equality, and they need to be told the truth of their purpose. It is a disorder that can be fixed, but not until they go through several years of therapy to understand that they need to be subservient.”

via Free Wood Post.

Occupy Joins the Fight Against Private Prisons | Truthout

“Its very clear when you start connecting the dots for people that you have these banks that are investing in these prison corporations and these prison corporations are working with these lobby groups to pass all these laws that end in more incarcerations, more deportations.”

via Occupy Joins the Fight Against Private Prisons | Truthout.

Seminole County Deputy Lohri – thrown under the bus for former prosecutor Jeff Ashton?

The Orlando Sentinel reported in the linked article below that the Seminole County was only using one witness against Alexander Ashton – the arresting officer, Deputy Lohri.

Alexander Ashton is the son of former Orange/Osceola prosecutor Jeff Ashton, known nationwide for his failed prosecution of Casey Anthony, and known to many activists for leading the prosecutions of two long-incarcerated innocents – William “Tommy” Ziegler and Gary Stanley Bennett – and coming up with the same lurid lie about both in restating theories of the crimes.

Buried in the newspaper hype promoting Jeff Ashton’s “bulldog temperament” and bestseller book is this … “While he was on the stand, prosecutors played a video that shows the defendant [Alexander Ashton] taking those field sobriety tests. It shows an extremely polite, chatty man who swayed while trying to stand still and wobbled and several times stepped off a while line while trying to walk it heel-to-toe.”

Showing the video is a good thing. But having Lohri be the sole witness strikes me as odd, if the young man in the video is the same Alexander Ashton previously charged in Orange County with unlawful speed in 2006, unlawful speed in 2008, careless driving in 2009, and possession of cannabis and drug paraphernalia in 2010. It’s difficult to tell if he’s the same Alexander Ashton because only the 2010 case shows a date of birth (which is also odd). That sole DOB does coincide with the current Seminole case DOB, May of 1990. (Orange case numbers 2006-TR-139900-A-O, 2008-TR-015897-A-E, 2009-TR-033724-A-2, 2010-MM-008267-A-O, Seminole case number 592011MM010352A)

It seems to me that if Deputy Lohri arrested the same Alexander Ashton as one or more of those Orange County cases, Seminole prosecutors could have called on other officers to testify to Alexander’s unwillingness to follow the rules.

It also seems to me that if Deputy Lohri arrested the same Alexander Ashton as any of those four cases, the Orlando Sentinel should have spent time ensuring the safety of those to whom they have a fiduciary responsibility – subscribers, advertisers, shareholders, etc. When a young man think his politically-connected Daddy can get him out of any doo-doo he gets himself into, preserving the public trust – the media’s job – requires proving the young man wrong when intoxicants and/or poor driving are involved.

Getting the accuracy of an alcohol measuring device thrown out as unreliable undermines any other arrests made using the same device. It’s a costly thing to do. Why the Seminole County prosecutors agreed to it may have more to do with Brevard/Seminole’s historic, unseemly hand-holding with Orange/Osceola prosecutors than anything else. How broken could the device have been when the video showed Alexander Ashton swaying, stepping off the line and wobbling?

It makes me wonder if Jeff Ashton also tried to the radar device that clocked his son doing 68 in a 45-mile-per-hour zone thrown out, too … the other half of the story.

Jeff Ashton reportedly went after Deputy Lohri for an hour, insisting that an investigation should have been conducted of his son’s activities prior to being pulled over. Driving 20+ over the speed limit is driving 20+ over the speed limit, interviewing bar patrons and employees (or archangels) wouldn’t change that.

Bottom line … the OS observes Jeff Ashton and concludes “bulldog;” I observe the same man and conclude “bombast.” The senior Ashton is wasting taxpayers money – big time – with a jury trial and taking up Deputy Lohri’s time, even if this Alexander Ashton was never busted in Orange.

And make no mistake that Orange/Osceola prosecutors routinely waste taxpayers money. Laying their mitts on Gary Bennett’s case will be a do-over, and not only because of the putrid amplification of the original theory of the crime, or the suspect condition of Bennett’s evidence when it arrived at Orchid Cellmark.

Orange/Osceola used charlatan dog handler John Preston, too, and they’re aware that Bennett was convicted using Preston a year after Ohio found him a phony and released Dale Sutton, just as they’re aware that they likely have innocent blood on their hands from Linroy Bottoson’s Orange/Osceola Preston-tainted execution.

Bulldog, no; bombast, yes. And bullshit. Freight cars of it.

Keep busting spoiled brats, Deputy Lohri; thanks for protecting us.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/crime/os-jeff-ashton-son-dui-trial-20120216,0,7453937.story

Gov. Scott: Don’t execute Waterhouse today, use your executive authority for public safety, not sickening sideshows

From: Susan Chandler
Date: February 15, 2012 8:48:36 AM EST
To: Rick.Scott@eog.myflorida.com
Cc: ASKDOJ , antitrust.complaints@usdoj.gov, Tampa Division , miami@ic.fbi.gov, Senator Mike Haridopolos , Speaker Cannon , irsob@do.treas.gov, *TIGTA Investigations Complaints Unit , ACLU Romero
Subject: DON’T EXECUTE ROBERT WATERHOUSE TODAY; stop ignoring conviction corruption, start making justice available

The Honorable Governor Rick Scott
Office of the Governor
The Capitol
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

Dear Governor Scott,

I am writing to insist once more that you commute Robert Waterhouse’s death sentence, and turn your attention to public safety by investigating and prosecuting Florida’s rampant conviction corruption. I also now ask that you demand that the federal government move rapidly to restore ethical forensics DNA test prices and reasonable test time frames to documented 2004 levels, or better.

Amnesty International posted an online petition on Robert Waterhouse’s behalf in an attempt to have you pay attention to the sworn statement of a “new witness.” A more apt description of the man would be “ignored witness” – there is nothing new in his sworn statement describing how Waterhouse left the bar with two other men – not Deborah Kammerer. The witnessed was interviewed right after the homicide; officers were not interested in his statement and even accused him of trying to protect a murderer.

Amnesty also wants you to pay attention to the destruction of evidence that made it impossible to conduct the DNA tests that Waterhouse requested, pointing to a Virginia governor’s opinion in commuting a death sentence that evidence destruction “breached the public trust in the system.”

I’ll additionally point out that Waterhouse likely wouldn’t have requested DNA tests if he knew they would incriminate him. Evidence destruction isn’t always innocent in Florida, which you would already know as fact if you were willing to address Brevard County’s evidence mêlée that’s already of record with the governor’s office via my previous correspondence. I will trouble myself to restate some of it.

Related evidence from William Dillon’s case and Gary Bennett’s case arrived in suspect condition at Orchid Cellmark’s Farmers Branch, TX facility in 2008 and 2010, respectively. Dillon’s evidence was unsealed but testable; he was freed. Bennett’s was sealed but reportedly untestable, and he remains incarcerated, even though he was convicted a year after Dale Sutton’s upset conviction proved dog handler John Preston was unable to track scent and unwilling to truthfully state his credentials under oath. Sutton was freed in January of 1983, which means that Bennett has now been wrongfully incarcerated for 28 years. Sutton’s upset conviction was within the knowledge of Brevard prosecutors and public defenders alike at the time of Bennett’s prosecution, according to the media. Preposterously, it looks like Bennett will be denied parole unless his sister’s petition is successful … Florida’s eagerness to bury mistakes and malice is sometimes screamingly obvious.

A Florida Department of Law Enforcement expert witness deliberately misrepresented DNA test results in Jeffrey Abramowski’s trial … the DNA pointed directly to Judy Foley and Michael Bruce Foley, and away from Abramowski. Fingerprints also belonged to the Foleys, not Abramowski, and it was the Foleys that fled, not Abramowski, and the Foleys found in possession of victim Cortney Crandall’s possessions, not Abramowski. The knife purchase that the Brevard Sheriff’s Office claimed placed Abramowski in Melbourne rather than Orlando backfired, my ex-SEAL friends steered me to Gerber’s sales manager at the time … Walmart didn’t sell black-bladed knives in Melbourne or anywhere else, so Abramowski couldn’t have purchased one there. The sales manager was very familiar with the now-defunct Orlando store where Abramowski purchase the knife. I’ve followed the money; it didn’t lead to Abramowski … he didn’t collect any insurance money from the victim’s death.

Crime scene fingerprints that didn’t match Monte Adams were never “run,” even though they could have exonerated Adams, and even though there are unsolved homicides at Cocoa gas stations that could be related. Brevard received federal funding to address its cold cases, but without the sufficient ethics to simply “run” a set of prints, the likelihood that any cold case will ever warm up is ludicrously low. Brevard’s “disdain for the slain” was made wholly apparent in the length of time it took for Sheriff Parker to respond to my requests to flesh out the information in Pauline Scandale’s case. It was obvious that he did not want anyone to be aware that there was another Cavova Beach skull-crush homicide a few years after Dillon was framed for another Canova Beach skull-crush homicide.

Crosley Green remains incarcerated although his brother (who knows how to drive a stick shift, unlike Crosley) had previously driven the truck and the hair that was Mito DNA tested was either the brother’s or harvested from Green’s cell. Mito DNA does not identify a specific individual like STR DNA, Mito only identifies maternal lineage. No legitimate forensic evidence tied Green to the homicide, and only the finger and foot prints of the homicide victim and the “eye witness” were in the truck and in the sand. The Florida Bar appointed high-powered D.C. defense counsel to represent Crosley, counsel suited to defend white collar criminals, crush whistle blowers and circumvent environmental protection laws. Their website professed a limitation on pro bono work to domestic violence only. I suspect they are in favor of it.

These five men’s stories from one Florida county alone indicate that the public trust hasn’t been breeched in-so-far as Florida crime scene evidence, it has been thoroughly betrayed, and that’s only one component of our conviction corruption.

No other Floridian has a greater sworn and fiduciary responsibility to address conviction corruption than you – per Title IV, Chapter 14, 14.01 of the Florida Statutes, below – yet you personally participated in conviction corruption by renewing former Gov. Crist’s Executive Orders that put Gary Stanley Bennett’s Brevard case in Orange County’s unclean hands, unclean from having used Preston in Linroy Bottoson’s proseuction – with FBI participation – resulting in Bottoson’s likely wrongful execution. Brevard’s current clerk of court helped the media have an excuse not to cover your personal participation by refusing to put Bennett’s case online on Brevard’s eFACTS, ridiculously asserting the age of the case made online publication impossible, despite the earlier Preston frame-ups of Juan Ramos and William Dillon appearing on eFACTS. (Wilton Dedge’s older Preston frame-up was also formerly present, but is now expunged.)

Media coverage would have revealed that Bennett’s prosecution and William “Tommy” Zeigler’s prosecution were too luridly similar to be coincidental, especially since the lead prosecutor in both was Jeff Ashton prior to his abrupt retirement. It would have revealed the Orchid Cellmark/Dillon/Bennett controversy being ignored by the same judge, as well as the controversy of it taking months for an Orange County judge to decide “yes” or “no” to allowing Ziegler additional DNA tests, although there’s only one ethical answer to allowing additional DNA tests when initial tests pointed to innocence – yes.

Because of your sworn and fiduciary responsibilities, it should be you – not me – battling the DoJ over their decades of failure to address FBI participation in conviction corruption, including any undue influence Senate President Haridopolos (as a son of a former agent involved in Brevard politics with other retired feds) may have deployed to prevent investigation of FBI ties to charlatan Preston and therefore Brevard/Seminole, Orange/Osceola and other Florida judicial circuits. It should be you fighting LabCorp’s acquisition of Orchid Cellmark to get to the bottom of the OC’s handling of Bennett’s evidence, especially since such acquisitions have driven DNA test prices up despite increasing automation, from under $32 in 2004 for STR to a scandalous $2,250 in 2012 for lesser Mito, taking months to do what used to be accomplished in days according to news reports on Ohio cases. It should be you demanding to know how Zeigler and Bennett’s theory-of-the-crime became luridly, eerily similar.

The FTC didn’t email or snail mail their deceptive letter, below, which makes it appear they had received only one letter of objectiion to LabCorp’s acquisition of Orchid Cellmark from me. I found their letter online while I was trying to figure out what to do next to counter the disinterest of the DoJ, governors, public defender organizations, defense attorney organizations, Bar associations and innocence organizations; they’re all ethically obligated to battle to make justice available via inexpensive, rapid DNA tests, but they’re no-shows, although – obviously – the time to apprehend rapists and killers is before the adjective “serial” is applicable. Each organization exempt from federal taxation that merely pretends to protect the public in criminal justice matters should retroactively lose its exemption, a matter that the IRS Oversight Board and the Treasury Department refuses to take seriously, despite the resulting carnage.

I written to two other governors about the stupefyingly slow, ridiculous rip-off of today’s DNA tests. That leaves 47 to go, and odds are that there are going to be one or two that actually care so much about public safety that will spit fire over test prices rising and time frames increasing since 2004, despite increased automation. Those governors likely won’t be happy if Florida giddily spends $2,250 for lesser tests than $32 used to buy in 2004, given that Florida is a federal DNA hub and received really big bucks in federal DNA backlog funding. Logically, your bang-for-the-buck responsibility is greater than other governors – and a reason for Florida to forfeit being a hub if flubbed.

Amnesty International stands against executing Robert Waterhouse. Author Robert Waterhouse stands against executing Robert Waterhouse. In the presence of so much conviction corruption of record, every Floridian should stand against executing Robert Waterhouse or anyone else, with you being the Floridian most emphatically against executions.

Executions under dark clouds are the most heinous of theatrics-in-lieu-of-leadership. Floridians need statesmen, not showmen. Commute Robert Waterhouse’s sentence right this minute, and get to work on ending conviction corruption and driving DNA prices and timeframes back down, Governor Scott.

Sincerely,

Susan Chandler

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=346955&page=1#.Tx6MVK6OiG4

http://www.ohio.com/news/local-news/scheduled-march-retrial-of-denny-ross-probably-headed-for-long-delay-1.254860

http://www.dna.gov/funding/dna-backlog-reduction/funding

2011 Florida Statutes: Title IV, Chapter 14, 14.01

Governor; residence; office; authority to protect life, liberty, and property.—The Governor shall reside at the head of government, and the Governor’s office shall be in the capitol. The Governor may have such other offices within the state as he or she may deem necessary. The Governor may employ as many persons as he or she, in his or her discretion, may deem necessary to procure and secure protection to life, liberty, and property of the inhabitants of the state, also to protect the property of the state.

History.—ch. 1660, 1868; RS 68; GS 69; RGS 83; CGL 104; s. 1, ch. 65-54; s. 32, ch. 95-147.

—————————–

From: Susan Chandler
Date: January 9, 2012 5:10:17 AM EST
To: Rick.Scott@eog.myflorida.com
Cc: ASKDOJ , Tampa Division
Subject: Executing Robert Waterhouse while ignoring conviction corruption

Honorable Governor Rick Scott
Office of the Governor
The Capitol
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

Dear Governor Scott,

I am writing to insist that you commute Robert Waterhouse’s death sentence, and immediately take steps towards ending Florida’s death penalty.

Over my objections, you executed Manuel Valle and Oba Chandler.

My objections to Manuel Valle’s execution (below) read in part, “1) Valle is a Cuban national, and was to be afforded benefit of contact with his government; 2) Valle has been on death row for 33 years and has known sixty (60) men who were put to death, which many judges consider to cruel and unusual punishment and a firm basis for commuting a death sentence to life imprisonment; 3) Valle was denied a transparent clemency hearing – his counsel was not present and the hearing was conducted in secrecy, 4) Governor Scott had ample time while the courts were reviewing Valle’s appeal concerning the new lethal injection protocol to legitimize the death warrant by affording Valle contact with the Cuban consul and conducting a transparent clemency hearing that was respectful of the 33 years of hell Valle has already been through in knowing 60 fellow death row inmates who were executed.”

My objections to Oba Chandler’s execution can be similarly summarized: 1) True fiscal conservatives oppose the death penalty; there is no way to justify its costs, particularly in economic downturns when its costs force cuts to education, law enforcement, the judiciary, human services and more; 2) True Christians don’t cast the first stone, let alone play God by affixing a signature to a death warrant; 3) The value of executions is in temporarily silencing the shrill voices of those who mistake vengeance for justice, as the death penalty has no deterrent value; 4) Neither your body nor soul has caller ID; chances are greater than 90% that any “Thou shalt kill” messages you receive through prayer aren’t Almighty; 5) I do not wish to have any party put blood on my hands, using my tax dollars.

Robert Waterhouse was convicted by the perjured testimony of a jailhouse informant; that and many other controversies were investigated and described in detail by another man named Robert Waterhouse … a journalist. “Robert Waterhouse by Robert Waterhouse” was published in Justice: Denied – The Magazine for the Wrongly Convicted (link below).

The article – written when former Governor Bob Graham was a U.S. Senator – indicates that executing Waterhouse would likely be another travesty … like Gerald Stano and Linroy Bottoson’s executions.

It will be author Waterhouse’s published objections that you will be ignoring this time.

You ran for governor as a businessman. Business math doesn’t support continuing the death penalty or ignoring rampant conviction corruption, nor does elementary math. You’re increasing Florida’s red ink, and some of it is blood. This makes you not a businessman, but the worst kind of politician; one with no potential to be a statesman, and great potential for yet more bloody red ink.

Commute Robert Waterhouse’s sentence, and work towards ending Florida’s death penalty.

Sincerely,

Susan Chandler

http://www.justicedenied.org/robertwaterhouse.htm

—————————–

From: Susan Chandler
Date: September 28, 2011 7:03:45 AM EDT
To: Rick.Scott@eog.myflorida.com
Cc: ASKDOJ
Subject: Manuel Valle’s 3 p.m. execution – deliberate rights violations

Attn: Warren Davis, Office of Citizen Services

Office of Governor Rick Scott
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

Dear Mr. Davis,

I was displeased to receive your response to my email to Governor Scott concerning his imprudently signing a death warrant for Manuel Valle; I’d hoped your employment was terminated upon Governor Scott’s inauguration.

Our new governor is quite disingenuous enough on his own without you adding your frustratingly furtive non-responsiveness into the mix, which I have had the distinct displeasure of receiving intermittent examples of since 2007.

To review the controversies you skirted in your response concerning Valle’s death warrant: 1) Valle is a Cuban national, and was to be afforded benefit of contact with his government; 2) Valle has been on death row for 33 years and has known sixty (60) men who were put to death, which many judges consider to cruel and unusual punishment and a firm basis for commuting a death sentence to life imprisonment; 3) Valle was denied a transparent clemency hearing – his counsel was not present and the hearing was conducted in secrecy, 4) Governor Scott had ample time while the courts were reviewing Valle’s appeal concerning the new lethal injection protocol to legitimize the death warrant by affording Valle contact with the Cuban consul and conducting a transparent clemency hearing that was respectful of the 33 years of hell Valle has already been through in knowing 60 fellow death row inmates who were executed.

To review the controversies you introduced in your response: 1) Despite your contrary claim, Governor Scott does not take his responsibilities to the incarcerated seriously … he has ignored my correspondence, including that concerning William “Tommy” Zeigler and Gary Stanley Bennett forestalled appeals, which accentuate the ongoing prosecutorial misconduct in both cases; 2) Governor Scott constituents include Buddhists, Wiccans, agnostics, atheists, etc., and his sworn oath requires him to adhere to the rule of law ahead of the tenets of his personal faith, and he has not done so in signing Valle’s death warrant, 3) While the emotions of homicide victims’ families are lawful mitigating factors in imposing the death penalty, the emotions of any party do not – at any time or under any circumstance – make it ethical to flout due process.

A official signature doesn’t legitimize a specious document, and within my knowledge, Governor Scott has signed another … an extension of the Executive Order that transferred responsibilities to prosecute Gary Bennett from the 18th judicial circuit to the 9th. Both prosecutor’s offices had used charlatan dog handler John Preston, who participated in Bennett’s Brevard case. The 9th’s stake in keeping Bennett’s frame-up intact is maintaining faux legitimacy for Linroy Bottoson’s wrongful execution.

My February 2009 email to Governor Crist that appears below the dashed line indicates you’re not a man of your word, Mr. Davis; you didn’t get back to me about investigating Brevard. Little has changed since 2009. We now have an Innocence Commission, but in name only; it isn’t investigating conviction integrity. We now have you spinning Scott’s shadiness as you once spun Crist’s; Crist signed the initial tainted Executive Order throwing Gary Bennett to Lawson Lamar’s wolves, he also signed Wayne Tompkins’ precipitous death warrant.

Putting Valle down like a rabid dog – after treating him worse than a dog for 33 years – isn’t justice. Ohio’s governor demonstrated courage in commuting Joseph Murphy’s sentence, courage that other governors lack – Texas’ governor executed Stephen Woods, Georgia’s governor executed Troy Davis, Alabama’s governor executed Derrick O’Neal Mason. Woods was innocent, Davis was most likely innocent and Mason may have been guilty, but the disavowal of the death sentence by the original presiding judge should have been a conclusive mitigating factor for commutation when added to the inhumanities and indignities Davis endured on death row.

Governor Scott should stay Valle’s execution and order a transparent clemency hearing after Valle is given the opportunity to contact the Cuban consul, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because an increasing number of citizens are determined to see public servants that deliberately conspire to violate rights – both of citizens and foreign nationals – led away in handcuffs to serve stiff federal sentences. Your involvement in violating rights will be the sum total of all the governors you’ve issued official lies for, Mr. Davis.

Sincerely,

Susan Chandler

Ohio governor commutes sentence of death row inmate

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/27/us-ohio-deathpenalty-idUSTRE78Q01620110927

Watchdog warns Florida over dysfunctional Manuel Valle case

http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/2011_09_23_Watchdog_warns_Florida/

From: “Governor Rick Scott”
Date: September 23, 2011 4:38:23 PM EDT
To: “Governor Rick Scott”
Subject: Thank you for contacting Governor Rick Scott

Thank you for contacting Governor Scott regarding the death penalty case of Manuel Valle. The Governor asked that I respond on his behalf.

Under Florida law, it is the Governor’s solemn duty to sign death warrants. Governor Scott takes this responsibility very seriously and is committed to following the law in as thoughtful and deliberative a manner as possible. He did so in this case.

Governor Scott has expressed that signing death warrants is one of his most difficult tasks, one that requires him to balance his Christian value of forgiveness with his obligations as Governor. After long and careful consideration of the facts and circumstances, Governor Scott concluded that clemency is not appropriate in the case of Manuel Valle. He stated that conclusion in the death warrant.

The families of the victims of the heinous crimes, for which individuals have been sentenced to death, are in Governor Scott’s thoughts and prayers as he carries out the laws of Florida.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact the Governor’s Office.

Sincerely,

Warren Davis
Office of Citizen Services

From: Susan Chandler
Date: September 19, 2011 8:42:44 AM EDT
To: Rick.Scott@eog.myflorida.com
Cc: ASKDOJ
Subject: Executing Manuel Valle without due process

Governor Rick Scott
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

Dear Governor Scott,

I am writing to ask that you adhere to international treaties and allow Cuban national Manuel Valle to interact with his government, and that you direct the Clemency Board – of which you are a member – to at long last conduct a clemency hearing that is not in secret and for which Valle’s counsel is present.

Valle has been on death row for 33 years, a length of time which many judges consider to cruel and unusual.

These issues – flouting international agreements, denying a transparent clemency hearing, traumatizing through warehousing Valle while 60 other death row inmates known to him were executed – should have been addressed while the legality of new lethal injection protocols was being weighed.

In addition to being thoroughly repugnant to those of us who don’t confuse vengeance with justice, the death penalty is preposterously expensive to administer, and the lengthy appeals process – quite obviously – does not ensure fairness for the convicted … it merely clogs our courts and delays justice for others.

By any interpretation, the balance sheet indicates that we can’t afford interminable, snowballing travesties. A wise man would follow Illinois lead immediately and make Florida’s death penalty go away.

Sincerely,

Susan Chandler