"The Most PowerPages on The Planet"
December 7, 2010
Volume 3, Number 15
Darwin Campbell, Executive Publisher
An Exclusive Report Publication
Send your story ideas and comment to lonestarpp08@gmail.com
Risk of Wrongful Execution Looms
Mississippi Rolls Dice With Plans to Give Black Man Lethal Injection
Family Appeals to Gov. Barbour and Legal System for Stay and Fair Review of Case
Darwin Campbell
LoneStarPowerPages
Govenor Haley Barbour
Tonja Glaspie
Frederick Bell is scheduled to die by lethal injection Dec. 29
Frederick Bell
“There can no longer be any doubt that an innocent person has been executed. The question now turns to how we can stop it from happening again,” - Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck
Parchman, Mississippi - Ten years ago, Claude Jones was executed in Texas for a murder he always maintained he didn’t commit. Nearly a decade after his execution, DNA testing proved in 2010 that the central evidence tying Jones to the crime scene — a hair fragment — was not his.
In a few short weeks on December 29, Gov. Haley Barbour and the state of Mississippi could follow in the Texas steps and execute another innocent man.
Frederick Bell, 39, faces death by lethal injection in Parchman for a crime that has his sister and family members crying in desperation to save a brother and call for Gov. Haley Barbour and the legal system to halt the execution and take a second look at real evidence in the case.
If executed, Bell would be the first African-American male to die by lethal injection in the state of Mississippi.
“I am asking all of you who read this to help me,” said Tonja Glaspie, Bell's sister. “If my brother dies, he will have lost the chance to prove his innocence. Every human being deserves that chance. If he is given a new trial, nothing will be lost.”
Glaspie has been working tirelessly to get her voice heard in an attempt to get Gov. Barbour's attention about the pending execution hoping to get it stopped before it is too late.
A synopsis of the case including information dating back to the start of the case.
In May 1991, 19-year-old Bell was charged for the robbery and murder of store clerk Bert Bell (no relation). He was tried, convicted and sentenced to death in 1993, largely because his trial attorneys failed to even investigate the case or conduct DNA testing beforehand.
Reports and some still say that at the time of the murder, Bell was in Memphis, Tennessee and not at Sparks Stop-N-Shop in Grenada County on the day of the murder.
According to Glaspie and court records on the case, Bell has been in a prison cell on Mississippi's death row since 1993 after being convicted in Grenada County.
He has been denied access to the courts, despite newly discovered evidence that strongly suggests he is innocent in this case.
Bell's conviction was based on the testimony of the state's star witness, Frank Coffey.
However, since the first trial, Coffey has come forward and recanted his testimony, stating in an court affidavit that he was coerced by police to finger Bell.
In addition, a member of the victim's family sat on the jury in Bell's trial, violating the principle that jury members should be fair and impartial.
The state of Mississippi continues to claim that Bell received a fair and adequate trial, and since that time, every court has denied him a hearing on his claims of new evidence.
“The lawyer who represented Freddie at his trial had no capital trial experience.,” she said. “He did not investigate the evidence that would have helped my brother.”
The Death Penalty Information Center has always been concerned about new laws which expand the number of crimes punishable by the death penalty and about new procedures which shorten the appeals process for defendants sentenced to death.
The same report contains concerns that the Government is increasingly using "less reliable sources of evidence'', such as informants and accomplices in death-sentence cases – a situation very similar to Bell's case.
The U.S. Department of Justice has studied and documented racial disparities in the application of the federal death penalty.
One study found that 80 percent of defendants who were charged with death-eligible offenses under federal law were African-American, Hispanic American or members of other minority groups.
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins and the Innocence Project has proven the flaws in the criminal justice system that sends many poor African-Americans, Hispanics and other minorities to prison on bogus evidence and trumped up charges. Their efforts have freed dozens of innocent men who had little to no hope for freedom... Are there any Craig Watkins in Mississippi with the boldness to pursue justice for Bell?
According to Glaspie, in Bell's case, there was a potato chip bag and beer bottles outside the store that were not tested for DNA of fingerprints. Also, the cash register was tested for fingerprints and found two unknown fingerprints - none of which matched those of Bell.
Also, there was proof that Bell was not in Mississippi at the time when Mr. Bell was robbed and killed. Freddie Bell was still in Memphis, Tennessee at the time. There is a former store owner and possible video tapes from a store in Memphis that could prove that Bell was in Memphis at the time of the crime.
“Now, mysteriously all these items of evidence are missing.,” she said. “We demand to know how can evidence against a person in such a serious case be missing and why won't these people in the legal system do something about the sloppy handling and miscarriage of justice in this case?
Certainly Gov. Barbour would not want to make the same mistake with Bell that Texas Gov. Rick Perry made in the case of Cameron-Todd Willingham.
According to ACLU reports, Texas executed Willingham and later discovered he was innocent.
Willingham was convicted of murdering his three daughters in an arson fire that engulfed the family's home in Corsicana, Texas, in 1991.
Thirteen days before his scheduled execution, Cambridge-trained chemist/fire scientist Dr. Gerald Hurst issued a report finding that the fire was not intentionally setand the conviction was based on faulty fire science. Despite new information, Gov. Perry refused to grant a 30-day stay of execution, and Willingham died by lethal injection on February 17, 2004.
“The death of innocents does not bring justice,” said longtime Texas-Louisiana community activist Fred Ghaffar. “It is a cold blow to those who believe and support the notion that justice will be fair, impartial and blind. This cannot continue and must not be allowed to happen to anyone without being absolutely sure that the right man is truly paying the price for a crime committed.”
Ghaffar said the fact that people are treated differently because of race and where they live is contrary to our ideal of equal justice under law.
The number of innocent people sentenced to death indicates that the system is broken and too unreliable to justify the use of an irrevocable sanction like the death penalty. The system in broken, he said.
Glaspie hopes that Barbour, the Department of Corrections and officials in the Mississippi legal system will not only take a second look at Bell's case, but work to restore honest faith and confidence in the criminal justice system.
“By giving Freddie a new trial, he would have the chance in front of the law to prove his innocence,” she said. “Please do not let any innocent man be executed. Freddie is a good person, my brother, a son, a father, an uncle, and a loved one to many. Help me to give my brother the chance to show his innocence and open the doors of fair, impartial justice for others. Help us to help my brother before it is too late."”
If you want to contact Glaspie, she can be reached at 662-489-4513 or you can send a message to Gov Barbour and the Mississippi State House and Senate go to the website and sign the petition.
http://www.change.org/petitions/view/clemency_for_fredrick_bell
To comment send e-mail to D. Campbell - lonestarpp08@gmail.com
Parchman, Mississippi - Ten years ago, Claude Jones was executed in Texas for a murder he always maintained he didn’t commit. Nearly a decade after his execution, DNA testing proved in 2010 that the central evidence tying Jones to the crime scene — a hair fragment — was not his.
In a few short weeks on December 29, Gov. Haley Barbour and the state of Mississippi could follow in the Texas steps and execute another innocent man.
Frederick Bell, 39, faces death by lethal injection in Parchman for a crime that has his sister and family members crying in desperation to save a brother and call for Gov. Haley Barbour and the legal system to halt the execution and take a second look at real evidence in the case.
If executed, Bell would be the first African-American male to die by lethal injection in the state of Mississippi.
“I am asking all of you who read this to help me,” said Tonja Glaspie, Bell's sister. “If my brother dies, he will have lost the chance to prove his innocence. Every human being deserves that chance. If he is given a new trial, nothing will be lost.”
Glaspie has been working tirelessly to get her voice heard in an attempt to get Gov. Barbour's attention about the pending execution hoping to get it stopped before it is too late.
A synopsis of the case including information dating back to the start of the case.
In May 1991, 19-year-old Bell was charged for the robbery and murder of store clerk Bert Bell (no relation). He was tried, convicted and sentenced to death in 1993, largely because his trial attorneys failed to even investigate the case or conduct DNA testing beforehand.
Reports and some still say that at the time of the murder, Bell was in Memphis, Tennessee and not at Sparks Stop-N-Shop in Grenada County on the day of the murder.
According to Glaspie and court records on the case, Bell has been in a prison cell on Mississippi's death row since 1993 after being convicted in Grenada County.
He has been denied access to the courts, despite newly discovered evidence that strongly suggests he is innocent in this case.
Bell's conviction was based on the testimony of the state's star witness, Frank Coffey.
However, since the first trial, Coffey has come forward and recanted his testimony, stating in an court affidavit that he was coerced by police to finger Bell.
In addition, a member of the victim's family sat on the jury in Bell's trial, violating the principle that jury members should be fair and impartial.
The state of Mississippi continues to claim that Bell received a fair and adequate trial, and since that time, every court has denied him a hearing on his claims of new evidence.
“The lawyer who represented Freddie at his trial had no capital trial experience.,” she said. “He did not investigate the evidence that would have helped my brother.”
The Death Penalty Information Center has always been concerned about new laws which expand the number of crimes punishable by the death penalty and about new procedures which shorten the appeals process for defendants sentenced to death.
The same report contains concerns that the Government is increasingly using "less reliable sources of evidence'', such as informants and accomplices in death-sentence cases – a situation very similar to Bell's case.
The U.S. Department of Justice has studied and documented racial disparities in the application of the federal death penalty.
One study found that 80 percent of defendants who were charged with death-eligible offenses under federal law were African-American, Hispanic American or members of other minority groups.
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins and the Innocence Project has proven the flaws in the criminal justice system that sends many poor African-Americans, Hispanics and other minorities to prison on bogus evidence and trumped up charges. Their efforts have freed dozens of innocent men who had little to no hope for freedom... Are there any Craig Watkins in Mississippi with the boldness to pursue justice for Bell?
According to Glaspie, in Bell's case, there was a potato chip bag and beer bottles outside the store that were not tested for DNA of fingerprints. Also, the cash register was tested for fingerprints and found two unknown fingerprints - none of which matched those of Bell.
Also, there was proof that Bell was not in Mississippi at the time when Mr. Bell was robbed and killed. Freddie Bell was still in Memphis, Tennessee at the time. There is a former store owner and possible video tapes from a store in Memphis that could prove that Bell was in Memphis at the time of the crime.
“Now, mysteriously all these items of evidence are missing.,” she said. “We demand to know how can evidence against a person in such a serious case be missing and why won't these people in the legal system do something about the sloppy handling and miscarriage of justice in this case?
Certainly Gov. Barbour would not want to make the same mistake with Bell that Texas Gov. Rick Perry made in the case of Cameron-Todd Willingham.
According to ACLU reports, Texas executed Willingham and later discovered he was innocent.
Willingham was convicted of murdering his three daughters in an arson fire that engulfed the family's home in Corsicana, Texas, in 1991.
Thirteen days before his scheduled execution, Cambridge-trained chemist/fire scientist Dr. Gerald Hurst issued a report finding that the fire was not intentionally setand the conviction was based on faulty fire science. Despite new information, Gov. Perry refused to grant a 30-day stay of execution, and Willingham died by lethal injection on February 17, 2004.
“The death of innocents does not bring justice,” said longtime Texas-Louisiana community activist Fred Ghaffar. “It is a cold blow to those who believe and support the notion that justice will be fair, impartial and blind. This cannot continue and must not be allowed to happen to anyone without being absolutely sure that the right man is truly paying the price for a crime committed.”
Ghaffar said the fact that people are treated differently because of race and where they live is contrary to our ideal of equal justice under law.
The number of innocent people sentenced to death indicates that the system is broken and too unreliable to justify the use of an irrevocable sanction like the death penalty. The system in broken, he said.
Glaspie hopes that Barbour, the Department of Corrections and officials in the Mississippi legal system will not only take a second look at Bell's case, but work to restore honest faith and confidence in the criminal justice system.
“By giving Freddie a new trial, he would have the chance in front of the law to prove his innocence,” she said. “Please do not let any innocent man be executed. Freddie is a good person, my brother, a son, a father, an uncle, and a loved one to many. Help me to give my brother the chance to show his innocence and open the doors of fair, impartial justice for others. Help us to help my brother before it is too late."”
If you want to contact Glaspie, she can be reached at 662-489-4513 or you can send a message to Gov Barbour and the Mississippi State House and Senate go to the website and sign the petition.
http://www.change.org/petitions/view/clemency_for_fredrick_bell
To comment send e-mail to D. Campbell - lonestarpp08@gmail.com
