The anti-death penalty movement is expanding-- into the sports world.

We have reported frequently, here, here and here, on Ashcroft's overriding the recommendations of his local prosecutors and directing them to seek the death penalty. Here is a prime example of a case which Ashcroft has misjudged--it involves a Brooklyn murder prosecution in which the eyewitness testimony is in doubt.

In Illiniois, a defense team is in place to fight the death penalty at the trial level one case at a time.

These are trial lawyers working under the State appellate defender's office. Instead of fighting in the legislature or expressing moral opposition to the death penalty, they are working through the courts to ensure that everyone charged with a capital crime gets a fair trial--and hopefully a deal from the prosecution for life in prison vs. death.

The team is headed by Stephen L. Richards, deputy state appellate defender. Richards said his group's victories were usually unsung. Many result from tough, behind-the-scenes bargaining.

Many of the state's prosecutors are angry that Ryan emptied death row. Some have vowed to fill it back up. But Richards asserted, "They're going to have to come through us."

He spoke by phone from Rockford, Ill., where he is a defense attorney in the first death penalty trial since Ryan issued his commutation orders.

Richards said a defendant who faces strong evidence of guilt sometimes agrees to accept life in prison if the prosecutor agrees not to seek execution. But first, everyone involved - prosecutor, defendant, judge, defendant's relatives, even the victim's family - needs to agree it is the best solution.

"You save his life, and you save the state the time and expense of a trial," Richards said. It also prevents appeals and postconviction proceedings.

Legal experts say Attorney General John Ashcroft's Death Penalty Edict could backfire:

Forcing United States attorneys to seek the death penalty could result in unwanted ripple effects, such as more frequent acquittals... There is also a risk that jurors who believe that a defendant does not warrant capital punishment could vote to acquit him on capital charges, or that judges who think the government has overreached could try to undermine prosecutors' cases, several former prosecutors said.

"The judge can take it out on you with all sorts of discretionary rulings," said Jamie Orenstein, a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn in the 1990's and a member in 2000 of the committee that reviewed death penalty cases for Attorney General Janet Reno.

"It's the exhibit that the judge doesn't admit," Mr. Orenstein said. "It's the objection to the prosecution's testimony that the judge sustains. It's the juror with qualms about the death penalty who the judge allows onto the jury."

Texas has said it will ignore the injunction against executions issued Wednesday by the World Court.

The International Court of Justice at The Hague on Wednesday ordered the U.S. to stay the executions of three Mexicans and reserved the right to intervene in dozens of other cases.

Mexico brought the World Court case last month, arguing that 54 of its citizens on death row should get retrials. It accused U.S. police of violating an international treaty by failing to tell the men of their right to consular assistance after being arrested.

The World Court said it acted in three cases where the men were at risk of execution before the lengthy case is finished.

On Tuesday, Texas executed its 296th prisoner since 1982, when it's death penalty was reinstated. In response to news that the International Court of Justice at the Hague ordered the United States to stay the next three pending executions of Mexican nationals until they prove that the defendants were given access to consular assistance, as required by international law, Lawrence Goldman, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, issued the following statement:

"We hope the United States will follow the order of the World Court to stay the pending executions of the Mexican nationals. Unfortunately, our past record indicates that we will not.

"It would be ironic for the United States to ignore the order of a World Tribunal at the same time we threaten war on another nation on the ground that it flouts the directives of a world body.

"The rule of international law should certainly be respected as much when it prevents death as when it arguably allows for war. We should consider following the lead of our neighbors in Mexico in their respect for both life and the law."

The New York Times sharply rebukes John Ashcroft today for his decision to seek the death penalty in a dozen cases, contrary to the recommendations of his local prosecutors.

Mr. Ashcroft's decisions appear to be driven by a desire to see the death penalty used more. His aggressive promotion of capital punishment is not only wrong, it is badly timed. Popular support for the death penalty is declining, due in large part to the growing number of cases in which DNA evidence is exonerating death row inmates.... Mr. Ashcroft also seems to have a regional agenda. The reversals in New York and Connecticut are nearly half of all cases nationwide in which he has overruled decisions not to seek the death penalty. Mr. Ashcroft's drive to increase the use of capital punishment here flies in the face of the administration's oft-repeated commitment to allowing states and localities more control over policy issues.

We've been covering this story for a week now, here is our latest post, which contains links to our earlier ones.

An Illinois State's Attorney has sued to overturn some of the clemencies granted by former Governor George Ryan.

We think it's a bogus move, and columnist Eric Zorn tells you why in today's Chicago Tribune.

The New York Times has a third article today on Ashcroft's demand for the death penalty against the advice of his local prosecutors.

Attorney General John Ashcroft has ordered United States attorneys in New York and Connecticut to seek the death penalty for a dozen defendants in cases in which prosecutors had recommended against or did not ask for capital punishment, according to lawyers who follow the issue. Those are nearly half of all the cases nationwide in which Mr. Ashcroft has rejected prosecutors' recommendations in a death penalty case....

Mr. Ashcroft's aggressive approach in the New York region was criticized yesterday by lawyers who said the best way to eliminate geographic disparities in capital punishment was not to increase its use but to reduce it. No federal court jury in New York City has yet returned a verdict for the death penalty since the revised federal capital punishment laws were passed more than a decade ago.

"They want to set a consistent national standard for these cases," said David A. Ruhnke, who represents a defendant in the new Manhattan case, "but the standards they're using are the standards used by Texas district attorneys running for re-election."

We've been particularly interested in this controversy because one of the cases is in Denver (as of this writing no decision by Ashcroft has been announced). Here is our post from last week on the controversy.

Former prosecutors and defense lawyers interviewed by the Times explain here why Ashcroft's interference threatens the independence of prosecutors and could lead to the undermining of the entire system. The federal system is based on cooperation deals--on defendants ratting off their associates in exchange for promises of leniency by prosecutors. Its the only way to get out from under the draconian sentencing guidelines, particularly in drug cases. And now it's turning out that the prosecutors can't deliver because the Almighty has come down and said at the last minute and in his infinite wisdom, "Deal's off. That one dies." This will be the death-knell for cooperation agreements. What defendant is going to take a deal knowing that the Prosecutor who's offering it to him may not be able to live up to it?

On the one hand, there's nothing we'd like to see fail more than the morally bankrupt system of purchased testimony that has become the very foundation of the federal criminal justice system. On the other hand, we are far more distrurbed that this Attorney General is being allowed to run amuck and make life or death decisions all by himself, against the advice of his career prosecutors. And that at a time it has become abundantly, if not crystal clear, that the death penalty system in this country is broken, he elects to put more people to death. Someone needs to tell him two wrongs don't make it right.

The World Court today ordered the United States to stay the executions of three Mexican nationals on death row due to Vienna Convention violations.

"Mexico argues that U.S. authorities systematically breached its rights and those of its nationals under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which obliges local authorities to inform an arrested person without delay of his right to speak to consular officials from his country."

Mexico sought the stay for 51 of its citizens on death row in the U.S. The court granted a stay for the three with close execution dates, who might not still be around by the time the Court decides the case on its merits.

The World Court is formally known as the International Court of Justice. It is a U.N. court that is used to resolve disputes among nations. It does not have enforcement power over it's rulings, and the United States has disregarded its decisions in the past.

The international press is beginning to rip Texas. This from Pravda.RU, written by journalist Richard Waagener in the Netherlands:

Executions Will Rise to 300 in Texas

Death in Texas comes for a lot of men and some woman in the form of an injection needle while they are strapped on a gurney in the death house in Huntsville Texas in the United States. This month the state of Texas expects to dispose itself of its 300th murderer after the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976. In total in the United States 827 men, woman and children where executed. If the scheduled roster is followed the ‘honor’ will go to Michael Johnson, a man who killed someone at a robbery when he was 19.

You can only wonder how such an occasion is celebrated in Texas. Will governor Rick Perry personally travel down to Huntsville to push the button which will cause the death of Johnson? Or will it be George Bush, the American president, who oversaw the execution of the greater half, namely 152 of these executions, when he was governor of the state of Texas? Probably not. Both declined to witness executions. Even with all the attention action groups, like Amnesty International, and the press are giving to the mechanics of the death penalty the train in Texas rolls on. Currently 446 people are awaiting execution, with eleven executions planned in the next months.

The example set by Illinois where all death penalty’s where commuted because the governor of that state doubted the fairness of has only caused ripples on the surface in Texas. This year alone already six men have abandoned there lives on the ultimate altar of ‘tough on crime’ politicians and hardboiled crime fighters, pushing for more executions.

As flawed as capital punishment was in Illinois, as flawed it is in Texas. International treaties are breached by the state executing foreign offenders, which were not given the assistance of the home country guaranteed under the Vienna convention. The execution of a Mexican last year caused a major diplomatic incident with the neighbors. President Fox of Mexico cancelled a visit to Texas as protest. Seven innocent people are already released after the spent together more than seventy years on death row, according to figures from Amnesty International. Some controversial executions have taken place, where opponents protest the guilt of the executed. The systems also allowed children and people with limited mental capacity to be executed, although steps are taken to mend that.

“Texas' capital punishment system exemplifies the findings that have emerged in recent studies conducted in Maryland and Illinois that reveal that the death penalty is determined by a geographic lottery”, according to press release of Amnesty International.” While Texas accounts for less than ten percent of the US population, it has been responsible for more than one-third of the national judicial death toll since 1976. Furthermore, Harris County prosecutors sentenced 35 of Texas' death row population, yet that county accounts for only 15 of the state's population. If Harris County were a state, it would rank 2nd with Virginia behind Texas in the number of executed inmates in 2002," the organization said. The total number of executions last year in Texas was 33, with 4 from Harris County. Virginia had 4 total executions.”

Meanwhile the pressure on Texas is growing. International investors are more and more concerned about the human rights situation in Texas. The Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty has called for a tourist boycott of Texas and many government leaders asked the United States and Texas to revoke the death penalty and respect Human Rights on this issue. Until their call is heard executions will go one, although more and more people are listening. The United States and Japan are the only modern democracies, which still have this ultimate penalty.

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A business and tourist boycott of Texas. What a great idea...the politicans may not care about fairness and justice down there, but they sure care about their pocketbooks.

The British-American citizen fighting Texas execution lost tonight, and was put to death by lethal injection.

"Asked by the warden if he had anything to say, John Elliott mouthed "No sir" and nodded his head. He then closed his eyes. As the drugs began to take effect, he had a slight snort, cough and gasp before slipping into unconsciousness. As the lethal drugs continued to flow into his arms, witnesses, including his son and a sister, prayed aloud.

He was pronounced dead at 7:09 p.m. CST, seven minutes after the drugs started flowing."

Elliott denied his guilt. His lawyers sought a stay to conduct DNA tests (which hadn't been done at trial) but the courts refused.

"Elliott was born in 1960 in England, where his father was stationed at a U.S. air base, giving him dual citizenship. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw asked Gov. Rick Perry to grant clemency for Elliott and more than 100 ministers of Parliament signed a House of Commons motion demanding clemency."

Elliott is the third British citizen executed in the U.S. The other two were put to death in Georgia. Our prior coverage of the case is here .

For UK coverage, start here and work backwards.

From the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty:

Proposals to ban the execution of people with mental retardation and juvenile offenders and measures that would abolish the death penalty or place a moratorium on executions are under consideration in a number of states, according to an analysis released today by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty .

Even though it is still early in most state legislative sessions, legislators already have filed more than 200 death penalty-related measures. Bills that would reform, curtail or abolish the use of the death penalty outnumber unfavorable bills by a three-to-one ratio, according to the NCADP analysis.....

On Tuesday, NCADP also unveiled a new tool that will allow activists to lobby their state legislators and state legislative reporters to track legislation in their state capitals. By visiting www.ncadp.org, activists can access the NCADP Legislative Action Center and find out what death penalty-related bills have been filed in their state, the status of those bills and how to contact state legislators.