I wanted to share this colorized picture of William M. Gray, Folsom’s 22nd execution. My son has been playing around with Photoshop, and this one particular shot has always stood out to him, so he wanted to see what he could do with it. Given the information surrounding Gray’s case, I’m not entirely convinced he committed the crime for which he hanged. I’ll leave you with his last words.
” . . . there could be no God, else an innocent man would not be hanged.”
I suppose it’s been quite a while since you’ve heard from me, unless you following my ramblings over at AprilJMoore, where I tend to stay busier. Folsom’s has been doing well and is heading into its second printing shortly, which is great news! I’ll keep you posted on that.
In the meantime, I wanted to share with you some additions to Julie Green’s Last Supper collection. You may recall a post I did back in April of 2012 about Julie’s work. On various dinner plates, she paints the last suppers of executed inmates. It’s an incredible collection of 550 plates showing a tiny glimpse into the final hours of a condemned prisoner. I had contacted her about the possibility of painting some of Folsom’s 93 last suppers and through information I provided coupled with her own research, she painted 18 plates. 
#28 Jacob Oppenheimer, July 12, 1913
Candy, cigars
# 23 Adolph Julius Weber, September 27, 1906
A hearty breakfast of toast, eggs, bacon and sausage
#57 Willard C. Shannon, May 4, 1928
Toast, strawberries and chocolate
You can view the other 15’s last suppers at Julie’s website. Look for:
Ivan Kovalev: february 21, 1896
Paulo Kamaunu, June 19, 1896
George Washington Roberts, September 4, 1896
Alex Kels, January 4, 1924
John Geregac, January 16, 1925
Alfred Bollinger, October 9, 1925
Charles Peevia, August 27, 1926
Paul Rowland, September 27, 1929
Anthony Brown, January 3, 1930
Roy Stokes, January 3, 1930
Walter E. Burke, January 10, 1930
James Gregg, January 10, 1930
Aldrich Welsford Lutz, June 21, 1935
George Hall, March 27, 1936
Earl Budd Kimball, May 22, 1936
You can also see all 550 plates HERE.
You may have been following the story of Troy Davis, or at least the story that has developed over his pending execution. Davis was refused clemency this morning and is schedule to die of lethal injection tomorrow in Georgia. He is accused of shooting off-duty police officer, Mark MacPhail in 1989. His defense has strongly maintained that this is a case of mistaken identity and seven of the nine witnesses from the 1991 trial have recanted their statements and one man, who did not testify, claims another man admitted to the shooting. In fact, no physical evidence linked Davis to the crime. The case is based on hearsay and circumstantial evidence. Davis has the support of high-profile figures such as former President Jimmy Carter, ex-FBI Director William Sessions, and former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr. Even three jurors from his trial are now in support of clemency.
In 2010, Davis was given a hearing to convince the U.S. Supreme Court of his innocence—an opportunity that the high court has not dealt out to any condemned prisoner in 50 years. He was unable to sway the justices who found, “minimal doubt on his conviction.” The judge, however, admitted that the state’s case was not ironclad.
There is doubt. His defense team said:
“The death penalty should not be exercised where doubt exists about the guilt of the accused. The Board did not follow that standard here. The state’s case against Mr. Davis, based largely on discredited eyewitness testimony and an inaccurate ballistics report, cannot resolve the significant, lingering doubts that exist here.”
Larry Cox of Amnesty International called the pardon board’s denial “unconscionable,” and said, “Should Troy Davis be executed, Georgia may well have executed an innocent man and in so doing discredited the justice system.”
So what do you think? Is the death penalty serving the purpose it was intended to? What happens where a case is shrouded in doubt? The death penalty has ridded the world of some pretty heinous individuals, but it’s impossible to deny that it has also taken innocent people from the world, too.
From Troy Davis, via Amnesty International:
“The struggle for justice doesn’t end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I’m in good spirits and I’m prayerful and at peace. But I will not stop fighting until I’ve taken my last breath. Georgia is prepared to snuff out the life of an innocent man.”
You can read more about Davis’ case HERE. Be sure to click on “Watch Videos” under “Ger Involved” and learn about Davis’ case and why there is too much doubt. It will leave you completely baffled as to why the parole board has denied him clemency.
First of all, “insanity” is a legal term but in the medical profession, the preferred term is “intellectual disability.”
This is not to be confused with diminished capacity which is defined as an impaired mental condition, caused by disease, trauma, or intoxication but short of insanity, that can reduce the criminal responsibility of a defendant. Not all states allow defendants to offer this plea in response to criminal charges.
Albert Einstein defined insanity as, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Today, the American Law Institute Model defines it as: a defendant is not responsible for criminal conduct “if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.” The test thus takes into account both the cognitive and volitional capacity of insanity.
Eighteen of the ninety-three men executed at Folsom prison, had pleaded insanity at least once during their legal process.
#41, James Tyren murdered his 2 children
#81, Mike Lami murdered his wife
In 1924, #45 Alex Kels underwent a procedure to have fluid extracted from his spine in an attempt to determine if a suspected case of syphilis had infected his brain, causing him to murder his victim. This test rocked the state of California and engaged governor Friend Richardson and the state prison board in a nasty debate that waged on for weeks.
Robert Wilbur of Truthout wrote a fascinating article entitled, “Killing the Mentally Ill.” I encourage you to read the article—I found it extremely eye opening. In 2002, the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was “cruel and unusual punishment,” to execute an inmate deemed “mentally retarded,” therefore, a violation of the 8th Amendment. And exactly how easy is it for the defense to prove their client is insane, or was during the commission of the crime? In the article, Wilbur talks with death penalty lawyer, George Kendall who often sees those with mental illness face the death penalty. “The prosecutors have the upper hand,” he said. It comes down to money. The state can shell out thousands of dollars to hire experts, where the defense has little money and is faced with the burden of proof. The paycheck these experts walk away with can be well over $200,000.
Wilbur noted one such expert, Michael Welner, MD who is proposing to create a “depravity scale” seeking to add an element of “evil” into the definition of some crimes. He strives to define the “worst of the worst” and help determine the truly evil crimes that deserve the death penalty. Uh . . . how exactly is evil defined? Can a panel of 12 peers determine that?
James L. Knoll IV, a senior forensic psychiatrist, vehemently rejects such a proposal. “Embracing the term ‘evil’ in the lexicon and practice of psychiatry will contribute to the stigmatization of mental illness, diminish the credibility of forensic psychiatry, and corrupt forensic treatment efforts.”
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, a man with an IQ of 69, confessed to a crime he didn’t commit, and after serving sixteen years behind bars, DNA evidence exonerated him.
It is estimated that of the 3200+ inmates on death row in the U.S., roughly 5-10% are considered to have intellectual disabilities. No surprise, but Texas has executed 24 mentally impaired people since 1977—the most out of any state.
In January of this year, Colorado governor, Bill Ritter issued a posthumous pardon to Joe Arridy. After reviewing evidence, Ritter found that Arridy, who had the mental capacity of a toddler, should not have lost his life for complicity to a 1936 murder.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHOULD THE MENTALLY ILL BE EXECUTED?
Folsom's 93 