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Home Contact Us Innocence Links Press Releases FL Execution Information Facts Get Involved Local Groups Reports DP in the News U.S. Execution Information 
Below are the latest action requests from FADP.
If you have any questions, please e-mail fadp@fadp.org
Governor Jeb Bush has signed death warrants of:
Rigoberto Velasco to be killed October 2 and
Aileen Wournos to be killed October 9.
Although temporary stays were issued!
THE STAY FOR ROGOBERTO VELASCO HAS ALREADY BEEN LIFTED!!!
Click here for information regarding actions as well as vigils at the prison and elsewhere
CONTENTS:
ACTION #1 –
Contact Your Florida Legislators!
ACTION #2 –
ACTION #3 –
Response to latest death row exoneration
ACTION #2
Current Florida Execution HOMICIDE Warrants:
(Click on the name for further details and letter writing actions)
Linroy Bottoson, – July 8, 2002 INDEFINITE STAY!
Amos King – July 10, 2002 INDEFINITE STAY!
On July 8, the Florida Supreme Court issued stays in all pending execution warrants until it conducts a review of the full implications for Florida of the US Supreme Court’s recent decision in Ring V. Arizona. Arguments were heard in August, however it is throught that the Florida Supreme Court wil not issue a ruling until after the elections. Has Jeb! Bush signed his last death warrant ? We hope so!
Click here for background information on the Ring case.
Click here to learn about public protests planned for your area!
LINROY BOTTOSON
Linroy Bottoson is scheduled to be poisoned to death in the name of the people of Florida on July 8, 2002 in revenge for his murder of Catherine Alexander. Mr. Bottoson does not dispute his guilt.
The following summation is edited from a St. Petersburg Times editorial. Read the full editorial at <http://www.sptimes.com/News/021000/Opinion/Rush_to_death.shtml>.
Linroy Bottoson’s case illustrates some of the chronic failures that have plagued Florida’s death-penalty system for decades: the barriers to adequate representation, the complications of mental illness and the injustices of a flawed prosecution.
Bottoson’s crime was ugly. He was convicted of kidnapping a 74-year-old woman, holding her captive for three days, stabbing her 16 times and then running over her with his car. But Bottoson’s case has never been clear-cut, and even with the delays, the questions surrounding his sentence left the Florida Supreme Court sharply divided as recently as 1996.
For one thing, Bottoson was represented in his original 1981 trial by a young, inexperienced lawyer who knew little about presenting a capital defense. At the time, the state mandated fee caps that discouraged seasoned lawyers from defending inmates. Under the flat $2,500 cap, Bottoson’s trial lawyer was paid the equivalent of $13 an hour.
Bottoson got what the government paid for. Despite convincing evidence of Bottoson’s long history of mental illness that could have persuaded a jury and judge against a death sentence, the young lawyer failed to raise the issue at trial. The lawyer explained to the judge that he could not afford to call witnesses, noting that “it all boils down to the fact that the county, the state (and) the Legislature (have) placed restrictions on my ability to conduct a meaningful defense on behalf of Mr. Bottoson.”
Bottoson’s direct appeal was denied three years after his sentence.
Facing his next level of appeals, Bottoson was at a disadvantage. The state had not yet created the current system of state-funded post-conviction lawyers for death-row inmates, and Bottoson did not have a lawyer. At the urging of the American Bar Association, Orlando lawyer James Russ, a sole practitioner, agreed to take Bottoson’s case for free. He filed the next appeal in accordance with the deadlines. Then, according to Russ, nothing happened. The trial judge remained silent for nearly 10 years until he finally agreed to hear Bottoson’s claims that his trial lawyer was inadequate, that a nationally respected dog handler called as a key witness by the state was later revealed to be a fraud and that Bottoson’s long history of paranoid schizophrenia should disqualify him from execution.
In 1996, a divided Florida Supreme Court rejected the appeal. A strong dissent written by Justice Gerald Kogan and signed by two others took the state of Florida to task for its notorious record of denying death-row inmates adequate counsel. Kogan said Bottoson’s inexperienced trial lawyer and his pathetic fee resulted in a “clear and unmistakable deficiency in performance.”
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is concerned that yet ag
ain, Florida’s death penalty will be used on a mentally ill man who had insufficient legal representation.
Write to the Governor of Florida:
Governor Jeb Bush
The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Telephone: (850) 488-4441 or
FAX (850) 487-0801
E-mail: fl_governor@eog.state.fl.us
Alternate e-mail: Jebbush@jeb.org
If you are writing from outside of Florida, please send a copy of your letter to:
The Tallahassee Democrat
Letters to the Editor
P.O. Box 990
Tallahassee, FL 32302
(850) 599-2173
Fax: (850) 599-2295
<tdedit@taldem.com>
If you are writing from within Florida, please send a copy of your letter to your local news paper(s), along with a letter to the editor marked “for publication.” (You might also try simply marking your letter to Jeb! “for publication,” and perhaps they’ll run that! As always, FADP requests that if your letter is printed, please send us an original of the full page on which the letter appears, to the address shown below.
*****
AMOS KING
Amos King is scheduled to be poisoned to death in the name of the people of Florida on July 10, 2002 in revenge for his alleged murder of Natalie Brady. Mr. King has always maintained his innocence.
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) is concerned about King’s assertion that important evidence was never properly developed or brought to light during his trial. Further, Mr. King has been seeking to have a new appellate attorney appointed, or in the absence of a new attorney, a paralegal, to assist him in pursuing his legal claims.
Read Amos King’s hand written plea for a new attorney at
<http://www.oranous.com/florida/AmosKing/KingSchaefferlet.htm>.
<http://www.oranous.com/florida/AmosKing/amforlet.htm>NEW!
Read Amos King’s hand written plea for a new attorney atFlorida Governor Jeb Bush has again signed a death warrant for an inmate who has not had all of his issues heard in court, and who in fact is not represented by an attorney with the prisoner’s best interests in mind. Please write a brief and courteous letter to Governor Bush asking that he stay the execution of Amos King until Mr. King is granted an attorney who will represent him in an unbiased manner, and until there is absolutely no doubt about his guilt. Please send a copy of your letter to your local newspaper.
Write to the Governor of Florida:
Governor Jeb Bush
The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Telephone: (850) 488-4441 or
FAX (850) 487-0801
E-mail: fl_governor@eog.state.fl.us
Alternate e-mail: Jebbush@jeb.org
If you are writing from outside of Florida, please send a copy of your letter to:
The Tallahassee Democrat
Letters to the Editor
P.O. Box 990
Tallahassee, FL 32302
(850) 599-2173
Fax: (850) 599-2295
<tdedit@taldem.com>
If you are writing from within Florida, please send a copy of your letter to your local news paper(s), along with a letter to the editor marked “for publication.” (You might also try simply marking your letter to Jeb! “for publication,” and perhaps they’ll run that! As always, FADP requests that if your letter is printed, please send us an original of the full page on which the letter appears, to the address shown below.
Write a note of support to Amos King at:
Amos King #036275
Union Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 21, P5 225 S, A1
Raiford, FL 32083
USA
Amos King has a personal web page at <http://ccadp.org/amosking.html>.
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
800-973-6548
https://www.fadp.org
PMB 335
2603 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Hwy
Gainesville, FL 32609
(800) 973-6548
fadp@fadp.org
