Write to Governor Riley of Alabama and ask him to please order it so that we will know and an innocent man will not be sent to death.
MONTGOMERY, AL; December 6, 2007) – On the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court order stopping the execution of Thomas Arthur based on a challenge to the constitutionality of lethal injections procedures, the Innocence Project today renewed and broadened its calls for Alabama Governor Bob Riley to order DNA testing that could prove Arthur’s guilt or innocence.
The Innocence Project, which has pressed the case with Riley’s senior staff for months, wrote to Riley today asking for DNA testing. The Innocence Project also launched a web-based campaign today, mobilizing thousands of people in Alabama and nationwide to write to Riley and urge him to order DNA testing in the case. To see the online campaign, go to www.innocenceproject.org/testing-for-tommy.
Since August, the Innocence Project has been requesting DNA testing in the case but Riley has refused. In today’s letter, Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld urged Riley to immediately order testing in the case, while the execution is stayed.
“Now is the time to act. As we have stated repeatedly to your office — including in a letter we sent over a month ago in response to your office’s request for guidance, to which your office has yet to respond — such DNA testing has the power to establish to a scientific certainty whether or not Thomas Arthur killed Troy Wicker,” the letter says. “A failure on the part of your office to order DNA testing is morally unjustifiable.”
At the end of August – 14 weeks ago – the Innocence Project formally asked Governor Riley to order DNA testing in this case. The organization again requested DNA testing in September (12 weeks ago) and in early November (four weeks ago). DNA testing in the case can be completed within four weeks. Had the governor acted on the Innocence Project requests over the summer, or on any of the subsequent requests, DNA testing would be complete today, and the serious questions about Thomas Arthur’s guilt or innocence could be resolved.
The Innocence Project, which has pressed the case with Riley’s senior staff for months, wrote to Riley today asking for DNA testing. The Innocence Project also launched a web-based campaign today, mobilizing thousands of people in Alabama and nationwide to write to Riley and urge him to order DNA testing in the case. To see the online campaign, go to www.innocenceproject.org/testing-for-tommy.
Since August, the Innocence Project has been requesting DNA testing in the case but Riley has refused. In today’s letter, Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld urged Riley to immediately order testing in the case, while the execution is stayed.
“Now is the time to act. As we have stated repeatedly to your office — including in a letter we sent over a month ago in response to your office’s request for guidance, to which your office has yet to respond — such DNA testing has the power to establish to a scientific certainty whether or not Thomas Arthur killed Troy Wicker,” the letter says. “A failure on the part of your office to order DNA testing is morally unjustifiable.”
At the end of August – 14 weeks ago – the Innocence Project formally asked Governor Riley to order DNA testing in this case. The organization again requested DNA testing in September (12 weeks ago) and in early November (four weeks ago). DNA testing in the case can be completed within four weeks. Had the governor acted on the Innocence Project requests over the summer, or on any of the subsequent requests, DNA testing would be complete today, and the serious questions about Thomas Arthur’s guilt or innocence could be resolved.
1 comment:
Capital punishment is so freaking permanent, isn't it? :(
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