Politics
Judge Halts Missouri Execution, Decision Quickly Appealed
JIM SALTER, Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A district judge agreed to halt the lethal injection of a Missouri death row inmate, but the decision was quickly appealed to a federal appeals court just hours ahead of the execution scheduled for Tuesday evening.
Andre Cole, 52, was sentenced to death for fatally stabbing a man in St. Louis County in a fit of anger over having to pay child support in 1998. His execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. CDT.
Although similar arguments were rejected by the Missouri Supreme Court last week, U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry ruled late Monday that Cole should not be executed because of mental illness.
“He hears voices over the TV, over the prison intercom, everywhere,” Cole’s attorney, Joseph Luby, told The Associated Press. He said Cole believes that Gov. Jay Nixon, prosecutors and others “are giving him messages about his case.”
But the Missouri Attorney General’s Office quickly appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing there was no legal reason for the judge to overturn the Missouri Supreme Court ruling that allowed the execution to proceed.
Regardless of the appellate court’s ruling, the case will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Cole’s attorneys have already asked the high court to stop the execution based in part on concerns over Missouri’s execution drug, which was purchased from a compounding pharmacy that the state refuses to identify.
Several outside groups, including the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union, are pushing Nixon to stop the execution and appoint a board to examine concerns that there is racial bias in Missouri’s jury selection process. Cole, who is black, was convicted and sentenced by an all-white jury.
“The criminal justice system in this country is unfair,” said Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU in St. Louis. “It targets persons of color. It treats the African-American community differently.”
Nixon’s spokesman said the clemency petition was under review.
Cole’s brother said the crime was out of character, a sudden act of passion that doesn’t merit the death penalty.
“It was a one-time thing,” said DeAngelo Cole, 38, of Las Vegas. “He didn’t have a history of that kind of behavior.”
Cole and his wife, Terri, divorced in 1995. The couple had two children and fought about visitation. Evidence showed that Andre Cole was upset that the government had ordered $3,000 in unpaid child support to be taken from his wages over the course of several paychecks.
The first deduction appeared on his paycheck dated Aug. 21, 1998. Hours later, Cole forced his way into his ex-wife’s home and was confronted by Anthony Curtis, who was visiting. Andre Cole stabbed Curtis and Terri Cole repeatedly. Curtis died, while Terri Cole survived.
Andre Cole fled the state but surrendered 33 days later. He claimed at trial that he did not bring a weapon into Terri Cole’s house and that Curtis initiated the attack with a knife.
St. Louis County prosecutors removed three black potential jurors from the pool of candidates, according to Cole’s supporters. Mittman said one black man was removed because he was divorced, but a white juror was not removed even though he was paying child support.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
California Black Media
California Senators Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler Back Local News Resolution
Last week, California U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler, both Democrats, announced their support for a resolution that recognizes the significance of local news. In the resolution dated April 23, Padilla and Butler joined Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai’i) and 10 other colleagues in designating April as “Preserving and Protecting Local News Month.”
By California Black Media
Last week, California U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler, both Democrats, announced their support for a resolution that recognizes the significance of local news.
In the resolution dated April 23, Padilla and Butler joined Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai’i) and 10 other colleagues in designating April as “Preserving and Protecting Local News Month.”
The resolution acknowledges that local news outlets are a public good essential to preserving America’s democracy.
“Millions of Americans count on the local news to help them understand what is happening in their neighborhoods and around the country. Yet local newsrooms have suffered from some of the harshest layoffs and budget cuts in recent years,” Butler said in a statement.
“It is critical that we recognize the role our local press plays in keeping people informed on the world around them,” she said.
The resolution comes at a crucial time in the media industry when employment decreased by 26% nationwide between 2008 and 2020, according to supporters of the bill. Employment in the newsroom came with great uncertainty as more than 30,000 jobs were lost in the last two decades.
Sen. Schatz said that local news helps increase civic engagement and strengthens democratic norms and practices. This resolution will help local journalists maintain healthy and vibrant communities through valuable storytelling.
Activism
Calif. Anti-Sex Trafficking Advocates Discuss Competing Bills, Strategies
Advocates from across California are challenging state officials and community leaders to support legislation that provides resources and services for survivors and victims of human trafficking, as well as assistance as they transition back into civil society. Some of those advocates are also calling for more effective state policy to curtail trafficking, a crime that has an outsized impact on Black children, particularly girls.
By Bo Tefu, California Black Media
Advocates from across California are challenging state officials and community leaders to support legislation that provides resources and services for survivors and victims of human trafficking, as well as assistance as they transition back into civil society.
Some of those advocates are also calling for more effective state policy to curtail trafficking, a crime that has an outsized impact on Black children, particularly girls.
According to the FBI, a report covering a two-year period found Black children accounted for 57% of all juvenile arrests for prostitution. In addition, 40% of sex trafficking victims were Black and 60% of those victims had been enrolled in the foster care system.
“It is time to hold the perpetrators who take advantage of our children accountable,” said the Rev. Shane Harris, a San Diego-based activist, former foster youth and founder of the Peoples Association of Justice Advocates, (PAJA), a national civil rights organization and policy think tank.
“It is time to send a thorough message that if you seek to buy a child for sex, you will pay the highest criminal penalties in this state,” added Harris who was speaking at a rally at the State Capitol earlier this month. Harris was speaking in support of Senate Bill 1414, authored by Sen. Shannon Grove (D-Bakersfield), which calls for people who buy sex from minors to be punished with a felony. The punishment includes a two-year prison sentence and a $25,000 fine.
Harris said the PAJA is the only civil rights organization in the state that supports SB 1414.
Harris urged other Black-led groups who favor anti-trafficking legislation more focused on criminal justice reforms (as opposed to stiffer penalties), to “join the movement.”
Many of those civil rights groups fear that SB 1414 could lead to the incarceration of more Black youth.
Those sentiments were echoed in a panel discussion organized by Black women advocates on April 26 to examine the cause and effects of human trafficking in California’s Black communities. The virtual event was hosted by the Forgotten Children, Inc, a faith-based nonprofit that advocates for survivors and victims of human trafficking through anti-trafficking campaigns and initiatives.
Panelists shared the psychological impact of sexual exploitation on youth and children in the long term.
Author and educator Dr. Stephany Powell shared statistics and information revealing that African American women and girls are the most trafficked nationwide.
Powell, who serves as the senior advisor on law enforcement and policy at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation said that national data indicates that sex trade survivors are disproportionately women of color. She stated that male survivors often go unnoticed because boys rarely report trafficked crimes.
Powell said that decriminalizing prostitution in California could increase human trafficking. She argued that Senate Bill 357, authored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), which was signed into law in 2022 and legalized loitering for prostitution, caused a surge in street-level prostitution.
Panelist and psychologist Dr. Gloria Morrow shared opposing views on decriminalizing prostitution. She said that decriminalizing prostitution could help survivors gain access to state resources and support.
Despite opposing views, Powell and Morrow agree that the Black community needs resources and educational programs to address human trafficking.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of May 1 – 7, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 1 – 7, 2024
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