Abdul - Hamead Awkal II

Abdul - Hamead Awkal II

#A267 328

Mansfield Corr. Inst.

P.O. Box 788

Mansfield, Ohio 44901-0788

For a first contact if you like an e-mail AdulAwkalOH@deathrow-usa.com, please leave a postal address for response. Thank you

Ohio set an execution date June 6, 2012


July 2011

Introduction to “Ohio’s Death Row Confession”:


I feel as if my whole life had been the companion of pain and suffering.

Surely had a very little happiness in it, which had been dragging me around the world from places of horror and misery, to places of unjust and cruelty.

I was born to a Muslim family in Beirut, Lebanon. I was the third child of seven. We all lived in a two room’s house. Life was uneasy for my father. So he took me out of school before I finish my 4th grade. I started to work with him, for a short while, tell he found me another place to work at. In short, I worked in many different places.

I was 16 years old when the civil war started in 1975. Life there becomes unbearable and was filled with pain and suffering. And because of this , my father started looking for a better place to live in. so, ameica was his place of choice.

My family went to America 4 years ahead of me. I had to stay behind because I was 20 years old and had to apply for my own immigration visa.

Four years later, my family called me from America. They told me to go down to the American embassy, and to bring with me my passport and fifty American dollar, to pay for the cost of immigration visa and have it stamped on my passport.

Before going to the embassy, I asked my uncle if he knew anyone works inside the embassy, that could help me get inside the building quickly, instead of standing long hours under the heat of the sun. my uncle responded saying, “ Yes, I do know someone works there.” Then he directed me to go to the other side of the building and to knock on the door there. A man will open the door. Tell him that my uncle is going to Italy and will bring back a leather shoes for you. Anyhow, I did what my uncle said me to do. But the man ( I forgot his name) won’t let me in, because the ambassador wasn’t there to stamp my visa. He asked me to come back tomorrow. So, I left the place with anger and frustration, but as soon as I had crossed the street and sat in my car and started to pull out of the parking space by the side of the road, a tremendous explosion went off behind me. It shook up everything in the area. And without any hesitation, I ducked my head down and pushed the pedal to the metal and speed away without knowing where the explosion was. But as soon as I got home, and before I had a chance to sit on the couch, someone was knocking on my door very hard. I opened the door to see what's going on there. I found my downstairs neighbor at the door saying to me, with fear in her eyes, "Have you seen my husband ? !" "Have you seen my husband?!" I respond back saying, "What?!" "Where is your husband?"

She told me that her husband works at the American embassy and someone had just blew it up!!

As soon as I heard her saying this, I could no longer stand up on my own two feet and my face turned yellow. I never knew that her husband work at the embassy.

But a few minutes later, my neighbor came back to tell me that her husband was in East Lebanon with the ambassador. Anyhow, it took me a few days to digest what had just happened to me !! And not to mentioned that God had already saved me from death 12 times like this, and I am always grateful for His mercy and His protection.

I want everyone to know that I am very ashamed in exposing my marital problem and the way that those people had used my religion (Islam) wrongfully to destroy me and to take my child away from me.

My intention in revealing my confession letter to you is to tell the truth about my case and not to disrespect my own religion or any other religions. But if I unintentionally did so, I profoundly apologize for it in advance and I ask the Lord for His forgiveness.


Awkal II

Documents on this case on this link
http://www.deathrow-usa.com/AbdulAwkalOH.htm

Sign petition for Brett Hartmann

Brett Hartmann has an execution date of April 7th, 2009.
He has strong claims of innocence that the appeal courts have refused to look at.

Please help by signing and re-circulating the following online petition link asking the Governor of Ohio to commute the Death Sentence of Brett Hartmann.

http://www.petitiononline.com/bhartman/petition.html

We respectfully ask that action be taken before April 1, 2009 so that we may send the hard copies to Governor Strickland.

If you would prefer to print out petition forms and gather signatures, that option can be found on his web site on the "What You Can Do Page" which can be found here;

http://www.enddeathpenaltyforbretthartmann. com/what_. html


In addition to petitions, there are other actions that can be taken on behalf of Brett also listed on that page.


Thank you on behalf of the Hartmann family,

Diane Morretti


http://www.enddeathpenaltyforbretthartmann. com/index. html

George's Latest Appeal

Has now been added to the site.

See the left hand side of the site for GEORGE'S LATEST APPEAL 2008

Please also remember to send George some Christmas Cards.

Utmost Respect

George W Skatzes
#173-501
Man C I
PO Box 788
Mansfield
Ohio 44901

Please give George some support, send cards and sign his petition

George would really appreciate having some cards and letters sent to him.


Mr George Skatzes A 173 501
Man C I
PO Box 788
Mansfield
Ohio 44901
USA

Contact the campaign: Georgeskatzescampaign@yahoo.com


Justice for George Skates Petition http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/GeorgeSkatzes/
PLEASE SIGN AND PASS AROUND YOUR CONTACTS. THANK YOU.

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Killing in secret: Death by lethal injection

"The right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of freely communicating thereon... has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right."- James Madison

In our post-9/11 world, government secrecy has become an accepted norm, whether the topic is national security, government spending or constitutional protocols for executions. (Consider that Americans barely protested at the news that President Bush had authorized government agents to secretly listen in on our phone calls and read our emails.)

Yet transparency in government is critical to maintaining a democracy. Meaningful public review enables citizens to hold their elected officials accountable, which ensures an open and free government. Without transparency in government, those in power fall prey to corruption and general incompetence. The present controversy over lethal injection protocols is a prime example of this.

For three decades, prison employees in states across the nation have implemented virtually every aspect of lethal injection executions, largely outside of public view and without legislative or executive oversight. Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court dodged the issue of government secrecy and its impact on lethal injection procedures and executions when it recently handed down its ruling in Baze v. Rees.
The case challenged Kentucky's lethal injection protocol, which uses a three-drug injection sequence that has been shown to carry an unnecessary risk of inflicting pain on the condemned. Currently, 36 of the 37 states that have the death penalty use lethal injections and have protocols similar to Kentucky's. This method of execution was first used in Oklahoma and then adopted by other states with no scientific study as to its effects on those executed.

However, studies have since indicated that the risks of torturous death are real and significant. In fact, the possibility exists than an inmate executed by lethal injection could remain conscious, experiencing severe pain as he slowly dies. For example, Angel Diaz took more than twice the usual time to die and had to be given a rare second dose of deadly chemicals. Consequently, a medical examiner reported that Diaz had chemical burns on both arms. "It really sounds like he was tortured to death," said Dr. Jonathan Groner of the Ohio State Medical School. Diaz's botched execution led Florida Governor Jeb Bush to suspend all executions.

Regrettably, incompetence resulting in botched executions has become a hallmark of many state and federal executions. Even so, states continue to cloak their lethal injection protocols and executions in secrecy.

For example, some of the most closely guarded secrets relate to the qualifications and training (or lack thereof) of those administering lethal injections, often to the detriment of death row prisoners. In Missouri, for example, when the media uncovered the identity of the state's lethal injection supervisor, they also learned that he had confused dosages during executions and had lost his privileges to practice in two hospitals. Incredibly, after a federal court barred him from participating in Missouri executions, he was hired as part of the federal government's execution team.

Incredibly, the responsibility for creating lethal injection procedures is often delegated to prison employees without discussion, meaningful study or oversight by elected representatives. In California, in response to a federal court order, corrections officials agreed to reexamine their policies but then sought to keep the review process secret. Although the judge denied that request, the construction of a new death chamber began without the public, their elected representatives or even the governor knowing anything about it. Many states even refuse to disclose information about their execution procedures to lawyers whose clients will be subjected to lethal injections.

The shroud of secrecy remains even after an inmate's death, preventing a final assessment of the lethal injection procedure. All but two states maintain complete secrecy regarding post-execution records and autopsies. These records contain data that is critical to evaluating whether inmates were conscious during execution, but government officials refuse to release this information. However, scientists who have studied post-execution materials in the two states where they are available, North Carolina and California, have concluded that lethal injection is not working the way states claim.

The manner in which capital punishment is meted out in this country is nothing less than a travesty of justice. And lethal injections, with their shroud of secrecy, are just one part of the problem. We must hold our government accountable, especially when it comes to the state executing citizens. If we are going to allow the government to kill us, then we certainly need to know all the facts beforehand. Clearly, we are in need of a nationwide moratorium on executions until these matters are sorted out and opened up to public review.

As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once observed, "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."


Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. Mr. Whitehead is also a member of the Constitution Project's bipartisan Death Penalty Committee, a coalition of death penalty opponents and supporters committed to fundamental reforms of capital punishment systems. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org

Capital-"X" Walk 4 Life Journal

Wednesday 16th April is George Skatzes Day on The Walk 4 Life

http://capitalxwalk4life.blogspot.com/

http://www.myspace.com/capitalxaka305375

A Rude Awakeninq as to how the Justice System Really Works

I was convicted of three murders during the eleven-day rebellion at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasyille, Ohio in April 1993. When I tell people I was not guilty of any of them, they say: "But weren't you at SOCF because you were already found to be guilty of a murder"?

So let me begin with that earlier conviction.

In the city of Bellefontaine, Ohio,in October of 1979, the manager of Rinks Department store was murdered. It would appear that this may have been an armed robbery gone bad. There is more than one theory as to what really happened in this case.

This case went unsolved for nearly three (3) years. Then in mid to late 1982 some inmates wanted to cut a deal to get out of the trouble they were in.
In the summer of 1982 a good snitching inmate doing time in London Ohio Correctional Institution called the Bellefontaine authorities and told them he had information concerning the murder that happened in their town in 1979.
The price for this information would be his freedom, which he gained. Plus other perks.

The next thing that happened, in October 1982 I was indicted for this robbery/murder.

There was no physical evidence whatsoever to link me to this crime.
Mr. Prosecutor used this inmate, one that was doing 37 to
130 years in Lucasville, Ohio's maximum security prison, and his wife to convict me.

Both of these people were indicted for this murder and several other crimes, but they cut a deal.

They received immunity for all their crimes for testifying against me. The following questions and answers when Mr. Rogers testified against me are reported on page 1366 of the transcript:

Q. What would you do to keep from going to jail? Would you lie under oath? A. To --
Q. To prevent yourself from being convicted, punished, going to prison, would you lie under oath?
A. I certainly would. I have before.
Of course this is only a very short version of the deals,
the injustice in my original conviction. My case is by no means unique or rare. The system is full of cases like mine.

To sum it up, I started out doing a life sentence, convicted of murder on the word of two (2) lying snitches!

A good, honest review of the record of case number 83-CR-3, Logan County, Ohio would prove I am telling the truth!

In my opinion these convictions should not be able to stand.

Inmate testimony alone put me on Death Row.

These convictions were obtained by the use of bribery and intimidation of the inmate witnesses.

A review of the record will prove this.

Inmate Lavelle turned state's evidence and testified against other convicts. Mr. Prosecutor told Lavelle, "You are either going to be my witness, or I'm going to try to kill you" (Transcript, p. 4047)

How can this type of testimony be enough to convict anybody?

The prosecutor also told the jury that if I had agreed to snitch, I would have been the witness and Lavelle would have been the defendant.

These were his words:

Mr.Skatzes had his opportunity and he chose not to take it. Had Mr. Skatzes taken it, they're right. Mr.Skatzes, assuming he would tell us the truth, would be up there on the witness stand testifying and Mr.Lavelle could be sitting over there. I make no apologies for that.
Transcript, p. 5751.

Ohio Revised Code 2923.03(D) states in part that the "admitted or claimed complicity of a witness may affect his credibility and make his testimony subject to grave suspicion, and require that it be weighed with great caution."

One would think the above statement makes good common sense, but that is not so.

When an inmate testifies for Mr.Prosecutor his word becomes the gospel.

Think about it: Should snitch testimony, uncorroborated by any physical evidence, be strong enough to send a person to his death?

Even before I was indicted for the murder of Earl Elder, statements were made as to who really murdered this man.

The powers that be very well know I had nothing to do with the murder of Earl Elder, but since I would not snitch, I got charged and convicted, and sentenced to death.

One of the inmates who was involved in the Elder murder came to my trial and testified against me. This man is walking the streets free now.

Another inmate who was involved in the Elder murder was man enough to step up and confess to his crime. He got a life sentence this past June 6, 2006.

Still I sit on Death Row as if this confession never took place.

I was also tried, convicted and sentenced to death for the alleged murder of inmate David Sommers. The cause of death, according to the coroner, was one (1) massive blow to the head.

In my trial I was the one who dealt the one massive blow that killed Mr. Sommers.
In another convict's trial for the murder of Mr. Sommers, the prosecutor told the jury that he was the one who dealt that fatal blow.

The State's own evidence proves that I am not responsible for the murder of Mr.Sommers.

There is just so much to all this. I don't want to go overboard in trying to explain everything. All I can ask is that you please read about this case.

If you feel the evidence is there to convict and sentence me to death, so be it.

On the other hand, if you believe I am innocent, please help me.

These courts will not do their job unless they are made to do so.

People power, you getting behind me and making some noise, is the only way justice will be served.

I need the State of Ohio to look at my case with honesty and justice.

Please help me to achieve this.

With utmost Respect

George Skatzes