Against Talion Law

Shahla Jahed Case (Executed Dec 1st, 2010)

2011-08-21T15:00:00.000+00:00

Shahla Jahed (1970 – 1 December 2010) was an Iranian woman who was sentenced to death in June 2004 for murdering Laleh Saharkhizan, the wife of her boyfriend (under a temporary marriage) on October 9, 2002. Jahed had been living with Iranian footballer Nasser Mohammadkhani becoming his mistress in a temporary marriage which is allowed under Iranian law.

International human rights groups have campaigned for her release since she was jailed more than eight years ago. One day before the execution Amnesty International made a last-minute appeal for the sentence to be halted, saying Jahed had not received a fair trial. Mohammadkhani first faced charges of adultery which were later dropped, although he was sentenced to 74 lashes for drug-taking after the court heard he had smoked opium with Jahed. It was seen that he had escaped punishment for adultery because he was wealthy as well.. The Iranian courts halted the execution of Shahla Jahed when the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani became public.

Jahed was executed on December 1, 2010 at 5am local time at the Evin prison, north of Tehran. The victim's son was allowed to pull the stool from under her feet. (Source: Wikipedia)

Mike Stanfill: The Last Request

2010-08-03T22:03:00.000+01:00

mike stanfill - the last request
envoyé par kroulik-junior. - Regardez les dernières vidéos d'actu.

What's the point of the last request?

Thu May 10, 2007

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - A convicted murderer put to death in Tennessee this week got his last meal wish after he died.

Philip Workman had turned down the usual final meal of his choice traditionally offered the condemned, asking instead that a vegetarian pizza be given to a homeless person.

Prison officials refused to send out a pizza and Workman died Wednesday by lethal injection.

But news accounts of his request touched a nerve with the public.
Nashville's Union Rescue Mission received 170 pizzas. Media reports said listeners to a radio station in Minnesota also ordered pizzas sent to another organization for troubled youngsters.

Dorinda Carter, spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction, said, "Taxes are to be spent on specific things for the care of the inmates." But she acknowledged there was no regulation against carrying out Workman's request.
An official at the mission said "the pizzas were enjoyed greatly by ouur clientele."

From:

http://www.privatehand.com/flash/request.html

The "Auto"biography of an Execution

2010-08-02T05:26:00.001+01:00

The Autobiography of an Execution en Yahoo! Video

As a lawyer, David Dow has represented over 100 death row cases.

Many of his clients have died.

Most were guilty.Some might have been innocent.

The Autobiography of an Execution is his deeply personal story about justice, death penalty, and a lawyer’s life.

The Organization Witness on Innocence

2010-08-02T05:12:00.000+01:00

According to the website Ncadp.Org:

"In 2006, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that there has not been "a single case - not one - in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred in recent years, we would not have to hunt for it; the innocent's name would be shouted from the rooftops."

We knew then, though, that innocents had been executed. So we issued a report titled “Innocent and Executed: Four Chapters in the Life of America’s Death Penalty.” In that report, we told the stories of four such men: Ruben Cantu, Carlos De Luna, Larry Griffin and Cameron Todd Willingham.

Now, the story of Cameron Todd Willingham has garnered even more national attention, thanks to a recent article, "Trial by Fire," published in the September 7th edition of the New Yorker. The reporter, David Grann, lays out the powerful story of Willingham's conviction and execution, and demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt what we have known all along: That Cameron Todd Willingham was innocent, and he was executed.

As Justice Scalia asked, we are now SHOUTING FROM THE ROOFTOPS that this man was innocent. But we need your help to get the message out.."

Death penalty: Is it outdated in USA?

2010-08-02T05:01:00.000+01:00

As the death penalty is discussed throughout the country, Hank Skinner is a death row inmate is fighting to prove his innocence but can't get excess to DNA evidences that can prove that his not guilty.

How can the United States continue to use the death penalty when there are multiple cases that are wrongfully accused?

Tony Katz says the people who sneak through the cracks are extremely minute; however DNA testing is necessary to stop those from happening.

Innocence Project

2010-08-02T04:30:00.000+01:00

An Innocence Project is one of a number of non-profit legal organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing, and to the reform of criminal justice systems to prevent future injustice. The original Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld as part of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University in New York City. It became an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2003, but maintains strong institutional connections with Cardozo.

In addition to working on behalf of those who may have been wrongfully convicted of crimes throughout the United States, The Innocence Project performs research and advocacy related to the causes of wrongful convictions. The Innocence Project is a member of the Innocence Network, which brings together a growing number of innocence organizations from across the United States, and includes members from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.

According to wikipedia, as of January 21, 2010, 249 defendants previously convicted of serious crimes in the United States had been exonerated by DNA testing. Almost all of these convictions involved some form of sexual assault and approximately 25% involved murder

Center on Wrongful Convictions

2010-08-02T04:25:00.000+01:00

Since 1998, the Center on Wrongful Convictions has been dedicated to identifying and rectifying wrongful convictions and other serious miscarriages of justice.

Narrated by the Center's co-founder and executive director, Rob Warden, this short video highlights the Center's past accomplishments and points to the future of reform.

Video by John Maki

Footage from Laurie Feldman's documentary The Innocent, and Rob Hess and News@Northwestern.

Photo credits: Loren Santow, Jennifer Linzer, and Mary Hanlo.

Donald Marshall Jr. Case

2010-08-02T04:21:00.000+01:00

Donald Marshall, Jr. (13 September 1953–6 August 2009) was a Mi'kmaq man who was wrongly convicted of murder.

The case inspired a number of disturbing questions about the fairness of the Canadian justice system, especially given that Marshall was an Aboriginal; as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation put it, "The name Donald Marshall is almost synonymous with 'wrongful conviction' and the fight for native justice in Canada."

The case inspired the book and film Justice Denied. His father, Donald Marshall, Sr., was grand chief of the Mi'kmaq Nation at the time.

More Informations on here:

Todd Willingham Case

2010-08-02T04:07:00.001+01:00

* First Video:

* Second Video:

ameron Todd Willingham (January 9, 1969, Carter County, Oklahoma – February 17, 2004, Huntsville Unit, Huntsville, Texas) was convicted of murder and executed for the deaths of his three young children via arson at the family home in Corsicana, Texas.

Willingham's case gained renewed attention in 2009 when an investigative report in The New Yorker, drawing upon arson investigation experts and advances in fire science, purported to demonstrate that, contrary to the claims of the prosecution, there was no evidence that the house fire was intentionally set, and that the State of Texas executed an innocent man.

According to an August 2009 investigative report by an expert hired by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, the original claims of arson were not sustainable; the Corsicana Fire Department disputes the findings, stating that the expert's report overlooked several key points in the record. The case has been further complicated by allegations that Governor of Texas Rick Perry has impeded the investigation by replacing four of the nine Commission members in an attempt to change the Commission's findings; Perry denies the charges.

More Informations Here:

And Here:

"Mistake": Leonel Herrera Story

2010-08-02T03:20:00.000+01:00

"I am innocent, innocent, innocent. Make no mistake about this; I owe society nothing. Continue the struggle for human rights, helping those who are innocent, especially Mr. Graham. I am an innocent man, and something very wrong is taking place tonight. May God bless you all. I am ready."

- Herrera's last statement prior to execution by the State of Texas.*

Leonel Herrera, Hispanic, was convicted and sentenced to death in January 1982 for the murder of police officer Enrique Carrisalez in September 1981. The officer had been fatally shot by the driver of a speeding car which he tried to stop. Moments earlier, another police officer was found shot dead on the same stretch of road. Herrera was arrested days later and charged with both murders. After being sentenced to death for Carrisalez' murder, he pleaded guilty at a separate trial in July 1982 to the murder of the other officer. According to his attorneys, Herrera was severely beaten after his arrest and was hospitalized. The case against him at trial included evidence that the car he used was involved in both crimes, plus eye-witness identification made by another police officer and Carrisalez before he died.
However, in February 1992, Leonel Herrera's appeal lawyers presented new evidence alleging that his brother Raúl Herrera Sr - who died in 1984 - had committed both murders. This was presented in the form of sworn affidavits from several people, including a former cell-mate and a former attorney of Raúl Herrera, who both said that Raúl had told them that he had carried out the killings. In February 1992, Raúl Herrera's son, Raúl Jr, also signed an affidavit stating that he had been in the car when the killings had taken place and had witnesses his father kill the officers. It was also alleged that the killings were related to drug trafficking, and that police had threatened Raúl Sr not to reveal the truth behind them. This new evidence was discovered too late to be presented in the Texas courts, as Texas law requires a new trial motion based on newly discovered evidence to be made within 30 days of sentence (a more restrictive time limit than in most other US states and in the federal system).
* THE SHORT MOVIE: "MISTAKE"

Leonel Herrera lodged a petition alleging that he was innocent of the murders and that his execution would therefore violate the US Constitution. Although two execution dates were set, in February 1992 and in April 1992, stays were granted to allow the US Supreme Court to rule on the issue. On 25 January 1993, by a majority of 6 votes to 3, the Supreme Court denied Herrera's appeal. The ruling, cited as 'Herrera vs Collins', held that there was no constitutional right to federal relief based on newly discovered evidence of actual innocence, when the defendant's original trial had been free from procedural error. The majority opinion assumed, for the sake of argument, that a "truly persuasive post-trial demonstration of actual innocence" in a capital case would render an execution unconstitutional. However, it found the affidavits in Herrera's case insufficiently credible to meet the standard required, citing discrepancies in the new testimony and evidence presented at trial.

The majority opinion also said that "Clemency ... is the historic remedy for preventing miscarriages of justice where judicial process has been exhausted". However, since the death penalty was reinstated, the Texas Board of Pardon and Paroles has never recommended clemency in a capital case, despite strong grounds presented in a number of cases.

The dissenting opinion criticized the Court for dismissing Herrera's claim when no hearing had been held into the substance of the new evidence...

*Source:

http://www.come-and-hear.com/editor/cp-herrera-ai

Rex Penland Case

2010-08-02T03:07:00.001+01:00

On 1994, in Stokes County, Rex Penland was charged in the rape and killing of a Winston-Salem prostitute.

Penland said he was passed out drunk in his pickup when Vernice Alford was stabbed to death, but the physical evidence presented at trial supported testimony by his nephews – twin brothers named Larry and Gary Sapp. They said that Penland raped Alford and had them tie her to a tree. The twins then waited in the truck, they said, and he soon returned with a bloody hunting knife and bragged of “icing” her.

A deputy and an agent with the State Bureau of Investigation testified that a footprint at the scene matched Penland’s snakeskin cowboy boots (*SEE CORRECTION). With the footprint and the knife on their side, not to mention the Sapps’ testimony, prosecutors won a murder conviction and a death sentence.

11 years later, the science is on Penland’s side.

A report by the state crime lab shows that there was no scientific evidence that the footprint matched Penland’s boots. And new DNA evidence shows that the semen collected in the case wasn’t his. As for the blood on his knife, the DNA doesn’t match Alford’s DNA. Instead, the partial DNA profile matches Penland’s, who testified that he cut himself skinning a deer a few days before Alford’s murder.

The new evidence may not prove innocence, but it was enough for a judge to grant Penland a new trial.

The new trial saved the guy from death by lethal injection..

Rolando Cruz Case

2010-08-02T02:31:00.001+01:00

In February 1985, a Hispanic man from Aurora, Illinois named Rolando Cruz and a co-defendant were tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for the 1983 kidnapping, rape, deviant sexual assault and murder of 10-year old Jeanine Nicarico in DuPage County Circuit Court despite the fact that the police had no physical evidence linking them to the crime. Cruz was released after more than 10 years in custody.

Cruz was not initially a person of interest for the crime until he attempted to claim the $10,000 reward for information on the murder with a fabricated story. There was enormous public and political pressure on the state attorney's office to solve the highly publicized case and the police and prosecutors became convinced of Cruz's guilt. One of the investigating detectives however was convinced of Cruz's innocence and resigned so he could testify for the defense. Later an Assistant Attorney General, Mary Brigid Kenney, also resigned claiming "I was being asked to help execute an innocent man".

In November 1985, another man, Brian Dugan, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole for two unrelated similar homicides (one a seven year old girl) committed in nearby Kane and LaSalle Counties. At the time of his arrest he had also confessed to the Jeanine Nicarico murder but this information was blocked by prosecutors from Cruz's two retrials. The conviction was overturned in 1989 due to a prosecutorial error; Cruz was retried, and the Illinois Supreme Court upheld the conviction and death sentence in February, 1990.

Justice Heiple, writing for the majority, found errors in the trial but dismissed them as harmless in light of the "overwhelming" physical evidence. This decision sparked an understandable public outcry, since even prosecutors had to admit that no physical evidence existed linking Cruz to the crime, much less "overwhelming" physical evidence. In 1992, Assistant Attorney General Mary Brigid Kenney, who was assigned to fight Cruz's appeal, sent a memo to Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris identifying numerous errors in the investigation and trial in Cruz's initial conviction including "perjured testimony" and "fraudulent investigations by local officials". Burris disputed Kenney's contentions, claiming he could not hold his judgement higher than the jury and that it was his job to uphold a jury's decision and Kenney resigned in protest.

More on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolando_Cruz_case

Insanity on Death Row

2010-08-02T02:20:00.000+01:00

Original air date: 11/11/07

Reporter Lara Logan talks with Tennessee death row inmate Gregory Thompson, who awaits execution for the 1985 slaying of Brenda Lane.

Thompson has been diagnosed by multiple doctors as being schizophrenic and suffering from delusions.

For More Informations copy and paste the link below:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/09/60minutes/main3481145.shtml

Mumia Abu-Jamal's Case

2010-08-02T02:13:00.002+01:00

A video that examines the media coverage in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal and specifically dissects the 20/20 special with Sam Donaldson.

Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook on April 24, 1954) is an African-American who was convicted and sentenced to death for the December 9, 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He has been described as "perhaps the best known Death-Row prisoner in the world", and his sentence is one of the most debated today.

According to Wikipedia, before his arrest he was a member of the black nationalist Black Panther Party, an activist, part-time cab driver, journalist, radio personality, news commentator and broadcaster.

Since his conviction, his case has received international attention and he has become a controversial cultural icon. Supporters and opponents disagree on the appropriateness of the death penalty, whether he is guilty, or whether he received a fair trial. During his imprisonment he has published several books and other commentaries, notably Live from Death Row.

Since 1995, Abu-Jamal has been incarcerated at Pennsylvania's SCI Greene near Waynesburg, where most of the state’s capital case inmates are held. In 2008, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the murder conviction, but ordered a new capital sentencing hearing over concerns that the jury was improperly instructed. In April 2009, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal for a new trial, allowing his July 1982 conviction to stand. A separate appeal by prosecutors to reinstate the death penalty has not yet been heard.

Women On Death Row

2010-08-02T02:11:00.000+01:00

Originally aired June 23, 2007. This is a segment from CNN Saturday Night.

The Program explores the reasons behind the wide disparity in the number of women vs. men given the death penalty in the United States.

Segment guests are criminologist Wes Abercrombie, death penalty defense attorney Stephen Bright, and Dallas Co., Texas District Attorney Craig Watkins.

Don't Support Death Penalty, Support Life.. Support Humanity!

China - Death Row Documentary

2010-08-02T01:24:00.000+01:00

Amnesty's report, Death Sentences and Executions in 2009, reveals that at least 714 people were executed in 18 countries and at least 2001 people were sentenced to death in 56 countries last year.

This excludes the thousands of executions that were likely to have taken place in China.

China where information on the death penalty remains a state secret.

Jeremy Irons talks about the death penalty

2010-08-02T01:17:00.000+01:00

Actor Jeremy Irons outlines arguments against capital punishment in a clip to support Amnesty International's campaign against the death penalty.

Don't support Death Penalty, support Life.. Support Humanity!

Execution Tour of North Carolina Death Row

2010-08-02T01:07:00.000+01:00

A death penalty documentary short film (10 minutes) by Scott Langley.

RALEIGH - Captured on film, the warden of North Carolina's Central Prison (Marvin Polk) narrates the preparation and final hours before an execution in Raleigh, where the state execution facilities are located.

Warden Polk takes members of the press through the prison, detailing hour-by-hour the preparation, and carrying out, of a 2:00 am execution. Footage includes the deathwatch area, the table where the last meal is taken, the final holding cell, the IV preparation room, the witness room, and footage of Warden Polk and Captain Marshall Hudson wheeling the gurney into the execution chamber.

The short film includes candid discussion by the warden about the role of doctors in lethal injections as well as his own feelings on overseeing the executions.

Before each North Carolina execution (Fridays at 2:00 am, when scheduled), Central Prison offers a media tour on the preceding Monday morning to explain the execution protocol and answer questions from the press.

The film was shot during a media tour in November 2005, between the executions of Steven McHone (11/11/05) and Elias Syriani (11/18/05) by Scott Langley, a Boston-based photojournalist who has been documenting the death penalty for nearly ten years.

Sakineh Ashtiani is facing death by stoning.. You Can Still Save Her!

2010-08-02T00:57:00.000+01:00

According to video source, Sakinah Ashtiani, a 43-year-old Iranian woman is facing death by stoning unless an international campaign launched by her children forces the authorities to quash what her lawyer calls a bogus conviction.

In a case that highlights the growing use of the death penalty in a country that has already executed more than 100 people this year, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted in May 2006 of conducting an "illicit relationship outside marriage."

Sakineh already endured a sentence of 99 lashes, but her case was re-opened when a court in Tabriz suspected her of murdering her husband. She was acquitted, but the adultery charge was reviewed and a death penalty handed down on the basis of "judge's knowledge" -- a loophole that allows for subjective judicial rulings where no conclusive evidence is present.

Speaking to the Guardian, her son Sajad, 22, and daughter Farideh, 17, say their mother has been unjustly accused and already punished for something she did not do.

"She's innocent, she's been there for five years for doing nothing", Sajad said. He described the imminent execution as barbaric. "Imagining her, bound inside a deep hole in the ground, stoned to death, has been a nightmare for me and my sister for all these years."

Under Iranian sharia law, the sentenced individual is buried up to the neck (or to the waist in the case of men), and those attending the public execution are called upon to throw stones. If the convicted person manages to free themselves from the hole, the death sentence is commuted.

Iran, embarrassed by the international attention over stonings, has rarely practiced it in public in recent years. But the country still executed 388 people last year -- more than any other country in the world apart from China, according to Amnesty International. Most are hanged.

July 9, 2010, following extensive international protests, Iranian Embassy in London announced that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani will not be stoned to death ..

Sakineh Ashtiani is facing death.. You Can Still Save Her! Just by writting to the closest iranian embassy in your region.

Don't support death penalty, support life.. support humanity!

The Guillotine

2010-08-02T00:43:00.000+01:00

Digital video montage dealing with guillotine execution in the early part of the 20th century; most notably that of eugene weidmann in 1939.

The enthusiasm of the crowd, as well as the fact that the event was filmed from an apartment window, became major factors in the french governments decision to ban public executions.

As a result, the weidmann execution was the last public guillotining in france before the death penalty was finally abolished in 1981.

Musical setting is the viola solo "elegie" by igor stravinsky, performed by miles hoffman..

History Of Death Penalty

2010-08-02T00:27:00.000+01:00

Punishment is a method to bring justice.

Death Penalty is the highest and most controversial form of punishment.

This short video shows a part of the history of the execution punishment.

West Memphis Three Case

2010-08-02T00:12:00.001+01:00

* First Video:

* Second Video:

Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley - also known as the West Memphis Three -- were teenagers when they were wrongfully convicted in 1994 of the murders of three children in West Memphis Arkansas. As highlighted in the landmark HBO Documentary "Paradise Lost," the investigation of these murders and subsequent arrests and trials were tragically mishandled, and amounted to little more than a witch hunt. To date, not one piece of substantial evidence, physical or otherwise, has connected the three men to the crime.

Now, after spending more than 16 years in prison, new DNA and forensic evidence has proven the innocence of the West Memphis Three.

This 20-minute video explores the new evidence in the case and gives Damien Echols a chance to speak in his own defense. Compiled from new defense and expert testimony, an interview with Echols on Larry King Live, and footage from '"Paradise Lost," 'West Memphis Three: Time For Truth" explores the latest chapter in this harrowing miscarriage of American justice, and leaves you aching to get involved.

"This is the most powerful and comprehensive visual representation of this very complicated story that we have seen to date. We only wish we could condense the facts so effectively." - Dennis Riordan and Don Horgan, Lead Counsels for Damien Echols

Video Produced & Edited by Brian Quist

The Life of David Gale (2003): Three Days To Make War at Death Penalty!

2010-08-01T03:50:00.000+01:00

* Introduction:

The Life of David Gale (2003) is an American drama film directed by Alan Parker and written by Charles Randolph.

Kevin Spacey stars as the titular character, a college professor and active opponent of capital punishment who is accused of raping a student and later convicted of killing a friend who was also a capital punishment opponent. Kate Winslet and Laura Linney co-star.

* Cast:

* Kevin Spacey as David Gale
* Kate Winslet as Bitsey Bloom
* Rhona Mitra as Berlin
* Laura Linney as Constance Harraway
* Gabriel Mann as Zack Stemmons
* Matt Craven as Dusty Wright
* Jim Beaver as Duke Grover
* Leon Rippy as Braxton Belyeu

* Plot:

David Gale (Spacey) is head of the philosophy department at the (fictional) University of Austin, an author, and active member of Deathwatch, an anti-capital punishment activist group. Gale loses a televised debate with the governor when he is unable to point to an example of a demonstrably innocent man being executed.

At a graduation party, an inebriated David is seduced by Berlin, an attractive female graduate student who had previously tried to entice him into raising her failing grade, and had later been expelled from the school. During the party, Berlin succeeds in getting Gale to have sex with her. After the party, she falsely accuses Gale of rape. Berlin drops the charges and flees, but the negative publicity costs Gale his career and marriage.

Constance Harraway (Linney), a fellow Deathwatch activist, is a close friend, especially after Gale's wife leaves with their son to Spain. The custody laws there favor the mother and her father is the American ambassador, effectively shutting Gale out of his child's life.

Harraway is found raped and murdered, and physical evidence points to Gale. Gale is charged with her murder and convicted.

Gale awaits execution. He agrees, for a substantial fee, to tell his story to Bitsey Bloom (Winslet), a journalist from a major news magazine. It becomes clear to Bloom that the details simply do not add up. Dusty Wright (Craven) is the alleged one-time lover and full-time Deathwatch activist partner of Harraway. Wright slips evidence to Bloom that suggests Gale has been framed, leaving Bloom only days to save Gale from execution.

An implication that the murderer videotaped the handiwork is replaced by the revelation that Harraway "recorded herself" committing suicide, since she was suffering from terminal leukemia. The video isn't found until moments before Gale's scheduled execution.

In a frenzy, Bloom tries to present the evidence to stop the execution. Unfortunately, she doesn't reach the courthouse in time and Gale dies an innocent man. The tape is released after his death, resulting in a media and political uproar over the execution of an innocent.

In an epilogue, Dusty delivers the interview fee from the magazine to Gale's wife in Spain, along with a postcard from Berlin apologizing for the false rape accusation. His ex-wife looks distraught, knowing Gale told the truth and that she effectively stole their child away from him.

A differently edited videotape is delivered to Bloom much later, labeled "Off the Record." This one shows Dusty confirming Harraway's death after her suicide and then stepping aside to allow Gale, also present, to caress her one last time. It is in this way Gale leaves his print on Harraway's plastic bag. Bitsey realizes that she has been manipulated by Gale and his associates, and that Gale, Harraway and Wright conspired to frame Gale in order to show that the death penalty can result in the execution of innocents. The film ends leaving questions as to whether or not Gale expected to be pardoned at the last moment, or if Wright deliberately prevented this.