Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency

Protest Against Execution of Brain Damaged Man

WHEN: Tuesday, January 18th 7PM
RALLY

WHERE: WESTWOOD FEDERAL BUILDING
11000 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA (Corner of Veteran)

MARCH AT 8:30 P.M. to ST. ALBANS CHURCH for a VIGIL
580 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA

The U.S. Supreme Court, denied request for stay for Donald Beardslee's death row inmate just after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected an appeal for clemency.

The execution will happen tonight at 12:01 AM unless there is an intervention. Protests are planned at San Quentin (were five protesters were arrested last night as well as other cities throughout the state.

The last California governor to grant clemency in a capital case was Ronald Reagan in 1967 for another brain damaged man.

Protesters against the death penalty for Donald Beardslee say he should not be executed for the folowing reasons:

No execution should be carried out in California while the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice (created by SR 44 - Burton) is conducting research on the causes of wrongful conviction and the application of the death penalty in California.

Mr. Beardslee warrants executive clemency for three compelling reasons, none of which were available to the jury that sentenced him to death.

The jury was unaware of the extent to which Mr. Beardlee's actions were controlled by severe brain damage that has impaired his functioning since birth. This brain damage was exacerbated by a car accident that occurred in 1961 and a falling tree which struck Mr. Beardslee in the head in 1968. (View supporting scientific documents at www.hcrc.ca.gov )

Although the jury requested information from the trial court about the punishments imposed on Mr. Beardslee's co-defendants, the court refused to provide any information. Thus the jury was left without the ability to weigh the relative culpability of the various participants. Mr. Bearslee's role in the crimes, especially when compared to those of the co-participants and when taking into consideration his limited mental functioning, does not warrant the ultimate punishment.

Former San Quentin warden recommended clemency, as do some of the original jurors in the case.
Cardinal Mahony has also wrote a letter to the Governor appealing for clemency. The LA Times published an editorial this week urging clemency.

Reportedly, in his native Austria, there is outrage at Schwarzenegger support for death penalty.

Anti-death penalty foes hoped Schwarzenegger would consider clemency in this case because of his mother-in-law's Eunice Shriver's involvement in the Special Olympics.

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KPFA at 94.1 FM will have live coverage of the execution at San Quentin tonight, 1/18/05 from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. (or however long this barbarism takes) as well as of the protests which are taking place right now.

You can see it listed on the website on the left side under What's Coming Up. You can listen online from the same website. See http://www.kpfa.org.

It is bitter cold in Northern California right now, with the temperature in Marin County (north side of Golden Gate Bridge, with San Francisco being at the other end) at freezing. San Quentin Prison is on the Bay, at the entrance of the San Rafael-Richmond bridge, so it may be 45 degrees there, but it always feels bitter cold at night. The protesters deserve highest praise for having the strength to withstand the bitter cold.

The Governor is murdering a human being tonight, making all of us much less safe. He does so, of course, to further his fascist political career, which is based on terrorizing and oppressing the workingclass for the benefit of his patrons, the capitalist class.

His most likely Democratic opponent in the 2006 governor's race, current Attorney General Bill Lockyer, is also staunchly for the death penalty and did everything he could to murder Kevin Cooper, but failed.

The only 2 anti-death penalty parties on the ballot are the Socialist Peace & Freedom Party and the Green Party.

All of Europe has abolished the death penalty. Both the death penalty and prisons are barbarism as they are punishment, not rehabilitation, thus not only being torture but also a waste of our tax dollars. The 21st Century Abolition movement calls for abolishing the death penalty and prisons, and for rehabilitating everyone truly guilty of the crime of which they are accused as quickly as possible, so that they can work at decent-paying jobs and be productive members of society, with the rehabilitation, including education, healthcare, housing and job training, taking no more than 5 years.

The death penalty is a class weapon to terrorize the workingclass and continues to exist where labor is weak. It is a sign of profound political backwardness. This outrage must end real soon.