PENA MORTE: USA; FLORIDA, JEB SOSPENDE ESECUZIONE TEST DNA

WASHINGTON, 3 DIC - Adducendo l'esigenza d'ulteriori test Dna, il governatore della Florida Jeb Bush, fratello del presidente George W. Bush, ha rinviato in extremis l'esecuzione di un uomo di 48 anni condannato per avere violentato e ucciso, 25 anni or sono, un'anziana donna di Tarpon Springs.

Meno di un'ora prima dell'esecuzione, che doveva avvenire alle 18.00 locali, le 24.00 italiane, per iniezione letale, Jeb ha concesso ad Amos Lee King Jr. una temporanea sospensione

della pena.

E' la quinta volta nell'ultimo anno che Bush pospone l'esecuzione di King, in attesa del completamento dei test Dna sollecitati dai difensori. Ma e' la prima volta che il rinvio avviene cosi' in extremis. L'esecuzione e' ora stata fissata per l'8 gennaio 2003, alla stessa ora.

   In Florida sono state eseguite 53 condanne a morte da quando le esecuzioni sono riprese in tutti gli Stati Uniti, nel 1976.

Attualmente, ci sono 367 condannati nei bracci della morte delle prigioni dello Stato. La prossima esecuzione e' attesa venerdi', quando Linroy Bottoson, 63 anni, dovrebbe essere messo a morte per un delitto (sequestro di persona e omicidio) compiuto nel 1979.

Miami Herald

FLORIDA: Bush rapped on stay of death--Execution halted for DNA testing

Gov. Jeb Bush's highly publicized decision to delay an execution and await further DNA testing has suddenly put the pro-death penalty Republican in an uncomfortable position: under fire from his ideological compatriots.

 Advocates for victims and their families -- the very people whose feelings Bush often invokes -- said Tuesday that they view the governor's 11th-hour granting of a stay to convicted killer Amos Lee King as mere politics.

 They said Bush's move Monday, about 90 minutes before King was to be put to death, was meant to mollify a well-heeled and increasingly influential lobby that wants to abolish capital punishment, using DNA and the fear of executing innocent people as their rallying cries.

 "He's not a rocket scientist, he's a politician, and he handled it that way," said Charley Williams, nephew of Natalie Bradley, the 68-year-old woman whom King was convicted of raping and killing in 1977.

 "Personally, I think [Bush] would have gone forward" with the execution, Williams added. "But he's got a lot more than just one person to worry about." Dianne Clements, president of the Texas-based pro-death penalty group Justice For All, offered even sharper words for the governor's faith in DNA tests, arguing that further exams won't completely rule out King's guilt.

 "So then we're still left with a convicted killer who's sentenced to die," Clements said. "I believe [Bush] would have had the support of the public and the victim's family if he had made a different decision."

 Bush granted the stay Monday as King prepared to die, drawing praise from lawyers who had been working feverishly to save the inmate's life.

 The New York-based Innocence Project, headed by famed defense lawyer Barry Scheck, had written Bush a four-page letter early Monday asserting that new, high-tech forms of DNA testing could still prove that King was innocent of Brady's murder.

 The 58-year-old widow lived just across a field from the correctional institution where King was being housed in a work-release program near Tarpon Springs. Police said he broke into the house, killed Bradley, then torched the house after the crime. Investigators found hairs on her body and clothing, and skin under her fingernails they believed to be from her attacker.

 Facing such criticism is rare for the governor, a staunch supporter of capital punishment who frequently turns any question about the state's troubled death penalty system into a discussion of justice for the victims.

 Bush, who aired a pro-death penalty TV ad during his failed 1994 campaign for governor that was roundly attacked as overly harsh, is far more accustomed to taking heat from death penalty critics.

 He called the Legislature into a special session in 2000 to pass a law to speed the death penalty appeals process. The law was later overturned in the courts.

 Bush's reelection campaign this year criticized his Democratic rival, Bill McBride, for supporting a moratorium on executions as long as questions of innocence persist.

 The issue of DNA evidence gained steam in Florida in 2000, when such testing exonerated Frank Lee Smith of the 1985 murder of Shandra Whitehead 11 months after he died of cancer on death row.

 Bush backed a new law last year permitting the use of DNA science in exploring the potential innocence of death row inmates. And many opinion polls show the public is wary of a flawed system that puts innocent lives at risk.

 But the death penalty is hugely popular in Florida.

 Bush cannot run for a third term, but he can ill afford to ignore those nuanced political realities of the issue in Florida. His brother, President Bush, will campaign here for reelection in just 2 years.

 Speaking to reporters Tuesday morning, Gov. Bush's discomfort was clear as he took pains to say that the decision to grant the stay was a difficult one, despite his support for using DNA evidence.

 "I'm not happy about it," he said, noting that he spoke late Monday to relatives of the murdered woman. "It's very hard to explain to someone after a murder took place in 1977. This woman was brutally murdered. This gentleman has gone through a trial where there was a unanimous verdict."

 Referring to the victim's family members, Bush added: "They were legitimately very hurt by this and I feel horrible for them."

 Still, Bush was careful to explain that he felt compelled to halt the execution, given any potential for new evidence.

 "This is a serious undertaking," he said. "An execution is something that needs to be done without any doubt that all the evidence is looked at."

 Immediately following the stay, Bush won praise from unlikely circles.

 Scheck hailed the decision. A statement from the Innocence Project thanked the governor for his "courage in making the decision."

 One of the project's staffers, David Menschel, recognized Bush's difficult position.

 "It requires explaining to people that you can simultaneously be in favor of the death penalty and in favor of sometimes halting an execution in order to make sure that you have the right person," Menschel said Tuesday.

 "That's a more complicated thing to explain to voters than just being pro-death penalty."