Alabama death row inmate’s fate hangs in the balance
Equal Justice Initiative

The State of Alabama has revealed that it lost DNA evidence that could exonerate death row inmate Tommy Arthur. Convicted for the 1982 murder-for-hire of Troy Wicker, Mr. Arthur has for years asked the state to test DNA evidence he says would prove his innocence. The state has refused to conduct the tests.

This week, just days before Mr. Arthur’s execution date, Bobby Ray Gilbert, a convicted killer serving life without parole, signed a sworn statement in which he confessed to the crime. After Mr. Arthur’s lawyers filed the confession in court, the Alabama Supreme Court stayed his execution, which was scheduled to take place today.

Judy Wicker, an admitted conspirator in the murder of her husband, said in an affidavit that Mr. Arthur, not Gilbert, committed the crime. She also accused Mr. Arthur’s daughter of trying to bribe her to clear her father. Mr. Arthur’s daughter, Sherrie Stone, denied the allegation.

DNA testing of the evidence might have exonerated Mr. Arthur or eliminated the need for a stay of execution. The State’s claim that it has now lost the DNA evidence raises more troubling questions about the propriety of executing Mr. Arthur.

When John F. Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the moon in 10 years, many called it impossible.

Now, Al Gore has given a major speech with another visionary call: “Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.”

By Yifat Susskind
Communications Director, MADRE: Rights, Resources and Results for Women Worldwide

Last week, leaders of the world’s richest countries, the Group of Eight (G8), met to chart the course of the global economy at the luxurious Windsor Hotel Toya Resort and Spa in Toyako, Japan. While President Bush and his colleagues discussed world hunger over a six-course lunch, women in Haiti were preparing cakes of dirt for their children’s dinner.

Eating dirt, mixed with salt and vegetable shortening, is the latest coping strategy of Haitian mothers trying to quiet hungry children in a year when the cost of rice (Haiti’s staple food) has risen nearly 150 percent.

Ironically, many of these women were once rice farmers themselves. But in the 1980s, U.S.-grown rice began pouring into Haiti. Thanks to federal subsidies, the imported rice was sold for less than what it cost to grow it. Haitian farmers just couldn’t compete.

Neither could millions of other farmers around the world, who have been bankrupted by the influx of rice, corn, and wheat from the U.S., Europe and Japan. These farmers have gone from growing their own food and feeding their countries to having to buy food that’s priced on a global market. Now that these commodity markets have spiked, millions of more families cannot afford to eat.

Even here in the U.S., still the world’s richest country, more and more families are struggling to afford food these days. Thankfully, we are not forced to feed our children mud cakes. But ultimately, all working families and small farmers, whether in Haiti or Iowa, are hurt by farm policies that are designed for the benefit of giant food corporations.

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Below the Belt: A Biweekly Column
by Kim Gandy, NOW President

In my January Below the Belt column called “Maddening Reminder,” I wrote about the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the countless forms of violence against women internationally – from acid and bride burning, to genital mutilation, to sexual slavery, murder and more. Most recently, a painful reminder has me looking closer to home.

Two weeks ago, 25-year-old Jana Mackey was found dead in the home of the boyfriend she had broken up with a few weeks earlier.

Jana changed a lot of lives in her 25 short years. She had been the Kansas NOW lobbyist, co-president of the Lawrence NOW chapter, and was a volunteer advocate at a safe house helping victims of sexual assault. Jana had organized a Kansas contingent to the 2004 March for Women’s lives, lobbied against anti-abortion legislation, and in favor of equal marriage. And she was entering her second year of law school, so she could be an even better advocate for women.

A quick internet search turned up half a dozen news stories in the last few days – all young women who had been murdered or abducted, likely by husbands or boyfriends from whom they were estranged. Yet the Violence Against Women Act still doesn’t contain enough protections for women who are fleeing violence. In Jana’s honor, we need to do more.

The statistics of domestic violence against women in the United States are staggering – where three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day. And yet we hear constantly that judges are refusing protective orders to frightened women, and even ordering continued contact with batterers in order to accomplish custody or visitation exchanges. Some judges even turn over custody to the abuser. In Jana’s memory, we must do more.

I’ve read many blog discussions of Jana and her fate, and some of them devolved into victim-blaming of the “she knew so much about domestic violence, so how did she get herself into this situation” variety. On the contrary, the real point is that if this can happen to someone like Jana, it truly can happen to any woman. None of us are immune to partner violence, and each of us has an obligation to work to eliminate this scourge.

A few final words about Jana, who is being remembered by NOW leaders across the country. Gina Austin-Fresh, National NOW Board member, remembers Jana as, “…a remarkable young woman and a devoted advocate of women’s rights.” A close friend of Jana, Marla Patrick, the State Coordinator of Kansas NOW, remarked, “Jana was a daily inspiration. She worked so hard to ensure the women of Kansas would know a better future. We have lost a champion. The world is truly dimmer without her.”

One of the blog writers posted a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which had been written in honor of suffragist Inez Milholland, who died at age 30 while campaigning for womens’ right to vote.

It is a fitting tribute to our friend and sister in the struggle, Jana Mackey:
Upon this marble bust that is not I
Lay the round, formal wreath that is not fame;
But in the forum of my silenced cry
Root ye the living tree whose sap is flame.
I, that was proud and valiant, am no more –
Save as a dream that wanders wide and late,
Save as a wind that rattles the stout door,
Troubling the ashes in the sheltered grate.
The stone will perish; I shall be twice dust.
Only my standard on a taken hill
Can cheat the mildew and the red-brown rust
And make immortal my adventurous will.
Even now the silk is tugging at the staff;
Take up the song; forget the epitaph.

Will you take up Jana’s song? If you’re not already involved, what better time to find out how you can help. Contact your local SC NOW chapter by clicking here.