Last night, the State of Florida sunk to another low as it executed David Pittman, an intellectually disabled man.
As we said in our statement, which we urge you to share, last night Florida ignored a clear legal prohibition against executing people with intellectual disability. Instead they hid behind arbitrary and shifting procedural rules to prevent any Court from hearing David’s claim.
We are truly in the middle of one of the darkest times in our state. And yet, I know that we must hold tight to our humanity so that we can continue to have the courage to tell the truth about the people we are killing, and about the impact on the ones they leave behind. Last night, we were blessed to be joined by one of David’s beloved family members, only a few hours after she had her final visit with him. During our vigil, she was visibly upset, and I watched as one of our community members walked over to her and quite literally put her arms around her to show her the beautiful sunset spreading across the sky to remind her that David’s spirit was being set free. As I watched this scene unfold, I thought to myself: this is why we do this. We must continue to share and spread the humanity of the people on death row, and the crippling collateral damage the death penalty does to everyone.
Florida Prepares to Execute Okeechobee School Survivor Victor Jones
Sadly, the State’s brutality continues. On September 30, Florida plans to execute Victor Jones, who is also intellectually disabled and is a survivor of the Okeechobee School. In fact, on January 6th of this year, the Florida Attorney General issued a letter recognizing Victor as a member of the class of boys who were abused by this state-run school, and issued him compensation.
Nine months later, in legal pleadings filed this week, the State sang a shockingly different tune. Throughout Victor’s case, the courts had rejected his childhood mitigation, finding that his allegations of abuse were not credible. So this recent formal acknowledgement of the abuse by the State qualifies as newly discovered evidence under the law, and should have afforded Victor a full and fair hearing to address its impact on his case. After his warrant was signed, his lawyers asked the Attorney General for public records about the compensation determinations. The Attorney General objected to those requests and refused to turn over any documents. Then, yesterday, they had the audacity to claim that the “letter did not acknowledge that any abuse occurred to Mr. Jones, just that the State had processed his Application.”
As Victor’s lawyers aptly pointed out in their reply, the “Attorney General’s Office has in its possession the records which demonstrate their assertions of fact to this Court are false. Jones took the additional step, showed that abuse happened to him, and received compensation from the State of Florida Victims Compensation Fund.” This blatant dishonesty has zero place in our legal system and must be brought to light.
And that, my friends, is our solemn duty. To continue to shine the light. As you can see in the photo below, as last night’s execution concluded, a rainbow spread across the sky – a clear light in the darkness while David was being executed. I am convinced that was no accident.
Onward,
Maria DeLiberato
Executive Director
P.S. Last Friday, Governor DeSantis signed the 14th death warrant of the year. 72-year-old Samuel Smithers is scheduled to be executed on October 14th at 6pm for the 1996 deaths of Cristy Cowan and Denise Roach. More information is forthcoming. In the meantime, please sign and share this petition.
