P R E S S   R E L E A S E
from
F L O R I D I A N S   FOR   A L T E R N A T I V E S
                                   TO THE DEATH PENALTY   (FADP)

 
 
24 June 2006



CONTACT:  Mark Elliott: 727-215-9646
mark@fadp.org




DID THIS MAN DIE FOR ANOTHER MAN'S CRIME? CHICAGO TRIBUNE SERIES
RAISES SPECTER OF YET ANOTHER INNOCENT PERSON EXECUTED



June 24, 2006 -- For the fourth time in 19 months, newly discovered
evidence has emerged that an innocent person in all probability was
executed, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said today.

The Chicago Tribune reported in its Sunday editions that evidence
shows Carlos DeLuna, executed in Texas Dec. 7, 1989 for the murder of
Wanda Lopez in Corpus Christi was not in fact the killer. The
newspaper pointed to another man, Carlos Hernandez, who admitted
repeatedly that he alone killed Lopez.  A prosecutor denied the very
existence of Hernandez, despite the fact that he knew about Hernandez
from a previous murder that he had prosecuted. Furthermore, Hernandez
was well known because of his lengthy criminal history, which
included knife assaults similar to the one that killed Lopez.

The series marks the fourth time since December 2004 that a major
U.S. newspaper has called into question whether an innocent person
was executed. Three of the questionable executions occurred in Texas
while one occurred in Missouri:

****In December 2004, a Chicago Tribune series on junk science
concluded that Cameron Todd Willingham, executed earlier that year,
had been convicted on the basis of discredited arson analysis.  A
recent report by the Innocence Project, conducted by a team of
leading arson experts, supports the Tribune story.

****In May 2005, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Larry
Griffin, executed June 21, 1995 for the murder of Quinten Moss, may
well have been innocent. A man wounded in the shooting said Griffin
was not the gunman. A police officer on the scene revised his
account, first given at trial. And St. Louis Circuit Attorney
Jennifer Joyce has re-opened an investigation of the case.

****In November 2005, the Houston Chronicle reported on the case of
Ruben Cantu, executed in 1993. The Chronicle reported that the person
who identified Cantu said that he only did so because he believed the
police wanted him to select Cantu. Sam Millsap, the Bexar County
District Attorney when Cantu was prosecuted, has said that he has no
reason to doubt the recantation, and regrets that a death sentence
was sought in the case. The current Bexar County district attorney is
investigating the case.

"The execution of one innocent person is too many and now we are
dealing with four very disturbing reports in the past 19 months,"
said Mark Elliott, spokeman for Floridians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty.  "We see common themes in these wrongful executions
and in many of the the 26 exonerations from death row here in
Florida.  Prosecutorial and police misconduct, ineffective assistance
of counsel and flawed testimony characterized each of these cases,
and faulty eyewitness identification and lack of credible evidence
were factors in at least three of the four.  Florida leads the nation
in death row exonerations, and these revelations should give pause to
anyone who wants to see more executions in our state."

Elliott added that the Chicago Tribune's series "confirms our worst
fear and our worst nightmare.  We have a death penalty system that we
simply cannot trust.  FADP once again calls for an immediate halt to
all executions and the abolition of the death penalty in our state
and in our nation."



**********
SENT BY:

      Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP)
      800-973-6548
      fadp@fadp.org
      www.fadp.org
      PMB 335, 2603 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Hwy,
      Gainesville, FL 32609