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NO alla Pena di Morte
Campagna Internazionale

PENA MORTE: USA; CORTE SUPREMA RIAPRE CONTROVERSO CASO TEXAS NIENTE ESECUZIONE PER UOMO CHE SI DICE INCASTRATO DA PROCURA

NEW YORK, - Da 24 anni e' nel braccio della morte e nel marzo 2003 arrivo' a 9 minuti dall'esecuzione, prima dell'intervento della Corte suprema. Adesso il massimo organo giudiziario degli Usa ha deciso di annullare la condanna alla pena capitale e di riaprire l'iter giudiziario per Delma Banks, un detenuto del Texas per la cui salvezza si erano battuti anche giudici in pensione e l'ex direttore dell'Fbi William Sessions.

Con una sentenza passata per 7 voti contro 2, i giudici di Washington hanno riconosciuto il diritto di Banks ad avere un nuovo giudizio, perche' la sua vicenda sarebbe stata viziata da una serie di abusi e giochi sporchi da parte dei procuratori che gestirono il caso. ''Quando la polizia o i procuratori nascondono materiale importante che puo' portare a scagionare o incolpare - ha scritto il giudice Ruth Bader Ginsburg nella motivazione di maggioranza - tocca allo stato ristabilire la correttezza dei fatti''.

Per la Corte suprema, quindi, le accuse che Banks ripete da anni di essere stato incastrato dagli investigatori hanno un fondamento. Anche i due giudici finiti in minoranza, i conservatori Clarence Thomas e Antonin Scalia - i piu' strenui sostenitori della pena di morte nella Corte - erano d'accordo nel riconoscere che il caso era viziato dal comportamento dei procuratori, ma volevano che tornasse ad una Corte d'appello federale per un'ulteriore valutazione.

Banks e' stato condannato per l'uccisione nel 1980 di un suo giovane collega di lavoro, Richard Whitehead, ma l'uomo sostiene di essere la vittima di una cospirazione nella quale alcuni testimoni sarebbero stati comprati dagli investigatori. Con 24 anni trascorsi nel braccio della morte, Banks e' uno dei detenuti che da piu' tempo negli Usa attendono l'esecuzione.

PENA DI MORTE: CORTE SUPREMA USA ANNULLA UNA CONDANNA DEL TEXAS SALVATO IN EXTREMIS DALL'ESECUZIONE ORA AVRA' NUOVO PROCESSO

Washington, 25 feb. - (Adnkronos) - Delma Banks, la cui esecuzione lo scorso anno e' stata bloccata 10 minuti prima dell'iniezione letale, potra' presentare ricorso contro la condanna a morte emessa da una corte del Texas nel 1980. Lo ha stabilito la Corte Suprema degli Stati Uniti che ha ritenuto non valida la sentenza di 24 anni fa perche' il pubblico ministero non forni' agli avvocati dell'imputato afroamericano, accusato di aver ucciso un ragazzo bianco di 16 anni, informazioni che avrebbero potuto screditare un testimone chiave dell'accusa.

Non solo, i sommi giudici americani hanno duramente criticato il ''comportamento disonesto'' dei magistrati dello stato considerato tra i piu' ''forcaioli'' degli Stati Uniti che - si legge nella sentenza scritta dal giudice liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg, ma appoggiata da sette dei nove giudici, quindi anche ad alcuni dei conservatori - ''hanno continuato a tenere segrete'' queste informazioni in oltre 20 anni di ricorsi di Banks contro la sentenza che fu emessa da una giuria composta da soli bianchi.

Non viene sanzionato solo il comportamento dei magistrati texani, ma anche quello della Corte d'appello del quinto circuito, che ha sede a New Orleans, che e' nota per il suo orientamento ultra conservatore. Lo scorso anno era stata proprio questa corte a ristabilire la condanna a morte per Banks che era stata bloccata da un giudice federale. Solo l'intervento in extremis della Corte Suprema ha evitato, lo scorso marzo, l'esecuzione di un uomo che, secondo quanto dichiara il massimo organismo giuridico americano, era stato condannato ingiustamente.

La sentenza della Corte Suprema e' anche la vittoria della particolare coalizione, guidata dall'ex giudice ed ex capo dell'Fbi, William Sessions, che negli ultimi anni si e' mobilitata per salvare la vita di Banks, il cui caso e' ritenuto emblematico degli ''errori costituzionali'' che solitamente si commettono nei processi che portano alla sentenza capitale, e che ''minano la fiducia dell'opinione pubblica nel nostro sistema della pena di morte''.

Supreme Court Overturns Texas Death Sentence

In a 7-2 decision in Banks v. Dretke, the Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of Delma Banks Jr., concluding that he was denied a fair trial because prosecutors in Texas failed to disclose key information.

TEXAS: Prosecutor vows to seek death penalty again for Banks

In Houston, a prosecutor says he is prepared to return to court and seek the death penalty again for a convicted killer whose punishment was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court more than two decades after his trial.

Justices voted 7-2 to overturn the death sentence of Delma Banks, whose attorneys contend that prosecutors withheld evidence and witnesses lied at the trial. The decision announced Tuesday returns the case to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"We're going to do what the court says, and if the court says retry it, we're going to retry it," said James Elliott, the Bowie County assistant district attorney who tried Banks for capital murder in 1980. "I'm ready. It will not be disposed of by plea bargain. We're not going to throw in the towel."

Banks was condemned for gunning down Richard Wayne Whitehead, 16, of Wake Village, just west of Texarkana in far northeast Texas. Whitehead had worked with Banks at a restaurant.

Elliott has long disputed claims that prosecutors played dirty. If the court's decision Tuesday leads to a new trial, "we're going to wind up right where we were 20 years ago. We're going to be sitting in a courtroom staring at each other," Elliott said.

Nearly a year ago, about 10 minutes before Banks could be taken to the death chamber in Huntsville for lethal injection, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia stopped the punishment so the high court could address appeals filed in the case. March 12 was the 15th execution date for Banks, who ranks 15th in seniority on the 450-inmate Texas death row.

"It's just so frustrating," Jackie Whitehead, the victim's mother, said Tuesday. "It was really very devastating to be that close the last time to everything being over with. It just lets you way down.

"We'll probably be fighting this until the day we draw our last breath, because it doesn't look like it's going to be over any time soon."

Banks ran into Whitehead and his girlfriend after a high school dance April 11, 1980, and asked for a ride home. Banks, then 21, bought some beer and the trio went to a park in nearby Nash.

They took the girl home about 11 p.m., then returned to the park, where Whitehead was shot in the head "for the hell of it," Banks told a witness who testified at his trial.

Prosecution evidence showed he drove Whitehead's car about 160 miles west to Dallas and dumped it, gave away the pistol and returned home by bus. Whitehead's body was found 2 days later.

Banks was arrested in Dallas, where he had returned about 10 days after Whitehead's death to get a gun so he and two others could commit some robberies, he said at his trial. The car never was found, but Banks led police to the .25-caliber pistol tied to the slaying.

Banks maintains his innocence, but the victim's mother remains convinced of his guilt.

"He was the last one with him. He was seen with his car in Dallas. My son did not give him that car to drive to Dallas, although I wish he did. He'd probably still be alive," Whitehead said. "It's going on 24 years. Every time this happens, it's like he gets killed and we bury him. We do it over and over again. ... I don't think people ever think what this puts people through."

Supreme Court's Reversal of Death Sentence in Banks Case is More Proof That the Death Penalty System is Too Flawed to Fix, Says Amnesty International

In Washington, DC., Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, today released the following statement on the United States Supreme Court's decision to reverse the death sentence of Delma Banks Jr.:

"We welcome the court's reversal of the death sentence in the Delma Banks case and agree with the majority. It is a mockery of justice when prosecutors force the accused to play 'hide' and 'seek' with exculpatory evidence. While the examples of prosecutorial misconduct in this case are appalling, they are not anomalous. The Banks case is further evidence that the death penalty system is too flawed to fix, and that it must be abolished."

For additional information on the Delma Banks Jr. case, please visit: Amnesty International Urgent Action on Delma Banks Jr.---- http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engamr510302003

Further Legal Concerns on Delma Banks, Jr.---- http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR510392003

Supreme Court Lifts Death Sentence for Texas Inmate

The Supreme Court delivered a stern critique of Texas's conduct in a high- profile death penalty case yesterday, ruling unanimously that the state wrongfully sentenced a man who came within 10 minutes of being executed last year.

By a vote of 7-2, the court ruled that prosecutors improperly withheld information from defense lawyers for Delma Banks Jr. during the phase of his 1980 murder trial in which the jury voted to give him the death penalty.

By a vote of 9-0, the court also ruled that Banks should be allowed to appeal his murder conviction, because there is a chance that state prosecutors violated his constitutional rights by withholding information during the part of the trial in which jurors found him guilty of killing 16-year-old Richard Whitehead--a crime he denies committing. Banks is African American; his alleged victim was white.

The opinion for the court, written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, chided Texas officials for "continu[ing] to hold secret" the information throughout almost 2 decades of appeals by Banks in state courts.

"Prosecutors' dishonest conduct or unwarranted concealment should attract no judicial approbation," Ginsburg wrote.

Though moderately worded, Ginsburg's opinion, which was joined at least in part by all of the court's most conservative members, sends a strong signal that the court intends to be vigilant about how capital punishment is administered in the state that executes more convicted murderers than any other. As such, it is also a direct rebuke to the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which has front-line responsibility for policing constitutional violations in Texas--but which last year overruled a federal district judge and ordered Banks's death sentence reinstated.

This is the second time in two years that the court has overwhelmingly reversed a 5th Circuit decision upholding a Texas death sentence. Last year, by a vote of 8-1, it ordered the 5th Circuit to reconsider the case of an African American death-row inmate who argued that prosecutors had deliberately purged the jury of eligible blacks at his Dallas murder trial.

Pressing forward with the execution after the 5th Circuit's ruling in Banks' case, prison officials in Texas had already fed Banks his last meal and were preparing to administer a lethal injection on the night of March 12, 2003--when word arrived that the Supreme Court had ordered a halt to the execution so that it could consider his appeal.

The case is Banks v. Dretke, 02-8286.