Can you help this man?

There have been many debates about the death penalty, and questions are usually asked about whether it is morally right. But another important question is this: Can anybody really believe that no innocent person has ever been executed? With a system that is so flawed, will no
innocent person ever be killed in the future? Politicians, prosecutors and people who are pro-death-penalty continue to ignore that problem. Of course, some people have admitted from time to time that an innocent person MIGHT have suffered the ultimate penalty, and might again in the future. Is the thirst for justice - or revenge - so important that we can defend the execution of the innocent? Isn’t that just another kind of murder?

We have all seen recent news stories that tell us over 100 people have been released from death row because they were discovered to be innocent. Some people who support the death penalty think this just proves that the system works. But to say that the system works, when
someone has spent years in prison facing death for something he did not do, just shows an utter lack of understanding of how the system really DOES work. Now, I know that I may offend a few people by what I’m going to say, but I believe that some things just need to be said: it also
shows how stupid some people can be, because if the system really worked, innocent people wouldn’t be sentenced to lose their lives for something they didn’t do. We have seen time after time in the last few years how close innocent people can come to being executed. When these cases come to trial, there is plenty of media coverage; but when a convicted man is released
because his innocence has been revealed, why does it seem to be so much less important?

One of the cases I’m thinking of is Anthony Porter’s. He spent years on death row for a murder he did not commit and came within one day of being executed. There was more than enough publicity at the time of his arrest and trial, and even after his death sentence, because people
wanted “justice”; but there wasn’t half the news coverage when he was released, and there was no real change of heart by those who had wanted to take his life.

Some people think that because of DNA testing we are weeding out the guilty from the innocent. But DNA testing can only be used in 20% of cases. There is no system in place to protect the innocent in others, and unless somebody comes forward and confesses, there is far too big a
chance of error.

At this moment, another man who has been sentenced to death is continuing to fight to prove his innocence: James Roane. You never hear about him in the media, and you wouldn’t even know he was on death row unless perhaps you too come from Virginia. But James Roane has proof that he was miles away when the crime for which he was convicted took
place.

Like many other death row inmates, he had an attorney who failed in his duty to defend his client to the best of his ability. James Roane told his attorney that he was at a hotel when the crime took place; but instead of hiring an investigator to get the records that would prove
his client’s innocence, the attorney did ... nothing. Nor did he try to call on people who could have vouched for Roane’s whereabouts. And yet when the police originally went to the victim’s mother to tell her about her son’s murder, she TOLD them that an hour or two previously two drug dealers carrying machine guns had kicked her door in, looking for her son. She TOLD them that after they left, her son came out from his hiding place underneath the house and said he was in trouble with those men because he owed them money. Yet Roane’s attorney never even called this woman to court to repeat her testimony. At the trial, there was one witness who testified that James Roane was NOT the person who had committed the crime. Despite that testimony, Roane sits on death row, fighting for his life, all because his attorney failed to investigate and put forward the alibi, and left Roane without anybody to vouch for
his whereabouts. Roane’s attorney for his appeal hired an investigator who quickly found
the hotel records, giving Roane proof of his whereabouts when the crime took place. You might think that he would at least get a new trial because of this alibi? But that hasn’t happened. The same prosecutors who stood before judge and jury and said that James Roane was the person
responsible for the murder are now saying that, even though he has proof of an alibi, it is too late to bring it up because his trial attorney “had the chance” to present it at his trial.
A prosecutor’s duty is to help uphold the law and seek justice. When prosecutors ignore the evidence of an accused man’s innocence and blindly put forward a flawed case, it not only puts the justice system at risk, but it makes it very hard to save the innocent person sitting
on death row for something he did not do. At this moment, James Roane is still trying to get the courts to grant him a new trial. In the past, his appeals have failed. It seems as though it isn’t only the prosecutors who don’t want to correct their mistakes, but the courts that continue to do the same. And so there is a real chance that another innocent man with an alibi can be killed for something he didn’t do.

And so we must ask this: does society support the death penalty so completely that it is willing to see an innocent person executed? James Roane is a victim: a victim of the justice system. He has spent thirteen years on death row for something that he could not have done. From what
you read here, do you think he should be a casualty of this unjust “justice”?

I am James Roane. And I don’t have much time left before all this will no longer be an issue.

from:
James Roane #32923-083
USP Terre Haute
PO Box 33 D-unit
Terre Haute IN 47808

My appeal attorney is :
Paul Enzinna
The Warner
1299 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC 20004-2400
Telephone 202-639-7752