WEBVTT - The Death Penalty, an Insider’s POV 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.840 Dear Governor is a production of I Heart Media and 0:00:02.920 --> 0:00:10.000 three Months Media. Dear Governor Newsom, Dear Mr Governor Newsom. 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:13.680 This is an open letter to Governor Gavin Newsom. Dear 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:24.800 Governor Newsong, you can put all the money in the 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:29.520 world into that campaign to the death penalty on the ballot, 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:34.440 but it doesn't equate to finding two people who are innocent. 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.840 Innocent people change his minds. It has in every state. 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:42.960 You will probably see that change. The death pilling is 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.559 because they found too many innocent people on death row. 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:49.800 The money didn't do it. The moral consciousness of the 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:52.760 communities in the state didn't do it. They did not 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:57.280 want their tax dollars to kill an innocent man period. 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:00.640 Jarvis masters on what he believes it will to put 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:05.559 an end to capital punishment. I can imagine seven people 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:09.640 in an auditorium and they all talk about their experiences 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:15.920 of being seconds away from being executed. That would turn 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:21.280 people against the death pilly, in my opinion, very fast, 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:27.200 very fast, because we're looking at seven human beings that 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:32.800 we paid to be executed. That really gets to the 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:37.160 consciousness of people and see what happens. I think most 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:41.399 people in America would say Wow, this is not for me. No, no, no, no, no, 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.399 you guys got this all wrong. My name is Daniel 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:48.320 Vasquez and I worked with the California Department of Corrections 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:53.680 for thirty years, starting as a correctional officer and bootstrapped 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:58.680 my way up through parole agent assistant, borol agent, investigator 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:02.280 and then warden at Saint Quentin for ten years. But 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:04.320 when were you at Saint Quentin. You were there from 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:10.079 when to win from three through nineteen nine. The warden, 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:16.519 you're the chief operating office, responsible for the daily operation 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:22.440 by subordinate staff of the institution. But you're responsible for 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:26.600 the budget and for you know, just everything that has 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:30.320 to do with the run in a Saint Quentin also 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:34.440 carry out executions, you know, when they've been confirmed for 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:38.520 executions and the death warrant has been received. According to 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:41.760 Witness to Innocence, since the death penalty was reinstated in 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:45.240 nineteen seventy three, one hundred and sixty seven men and 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.560 women from twenty eight states have been exonerated and freed 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:52.560 from death row. Let that sink in one hundred and 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:56.160 sixty seven American citizens, the vast majority of whom we're 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:59.880 discovered to be innocent. We're scheduled to be executed by 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.000 our government, but they were spared, be it for the 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:05.600 grace of God or the fate of luck. And the 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:08.720 vast majority of those spared were found innocent based on 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:12.040 dubious DNA evidence. What does that mean for the many 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:15.760 condemned inmates who claim innocence, including Jarvis, for whom DNA 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:20.560 evidence is non existent. Imagine the international outrage of China 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:24.359 was to knowingly execute over a hundred of its innocent citizens. 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:26.840 Many of us still rage at the fact that the 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:31.639 Saudi Arabian government executed just one of their citizens, Jamal Kashoji. 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:35.320 In our first episode, Jarvis asked how many guilty people 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.160 need to be put to death to justify the execution 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.640 of one innocent We all need to answer that question 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.760 for ourselves. But as painful as it might be to look, 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:48.200 Jarvis and his community urge you to not turn a 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.320 blind eye to the devastating reality that more than four 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:55.160 percent of defendants sentenced to death in the US are innocent. 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:59.520 According to National Academy of Sciences. The National Coalition to 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:02.720 Aboli the Death Penalty puts the number even higher at 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:09.520 one intent. You are a believer still in capital punishment. Yes, Sam, 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:16.080 you know, as the Bible says Uhffer, and I do 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:20.520 you think it is a deterrent for other potential criminals 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:25.839 to prevent them from committing capital crimes? No, No, it's 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:29.560 a it's a determ for the individual that's executed. But 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.320 if that was the case, then you should have only 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:39.360 taken one execution to stop others from committing a capital crimes. 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.440 And as you well know and I know, it doesn't 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.359 work that way. It never stopped anybody else from killing 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:50.640 another human being. Can I cannot say one thing? Because 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:56.520 you know my stale death roll. People have read the 0:04:56.520 --> 0:05:02.000 papers and watched television. They see people who come on 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.240 death row that have some of the most despicable crimes 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:13.679 you can imagine. I'm talking about serious ugly stuff, baby killing, 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:18.039 killing women who are pregnant. I mean real, serious ugly stuff. 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:23.080 And for a while there was one guy. I never 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.240 met him, you know, but I've seen him, and he 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:30.280 was people on death row for killing the baby. And 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:34.320 for years I watched people watched this guy walk by, 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:39.240 and they were so enraged by him. They hated him, 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:41.880 and I didn't like him. I didn't hate him, but 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:44.599 I didn't like him, you know, and I used him 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:48.200 as a sort of Okay, here's the perfect example of 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.240 someone you need to work because you it helps you 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:55.440 work for yourself, you know. And he was in protective 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:59.080 because I think for about sixteen years ago, very few 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.000 people spoke to a you know. It was just terrible. 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:08.440 And behold, he was found to be innocent and walked 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:12.800 out of this prison and left his property right at 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.280 the door, because I've seen it, because I was going 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:20.960 to visit to go home. So you spent all this finger, 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:25.800 all this energy, and yet the very person that you 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.680 despised that you probably want to kill because of what 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:31.880 he did, it's found to be honest, what does that 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:37.240 say about Hugh Army? Sixteen years you've been hating this dude, 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:40.640 wanting to kill somebody. How do you how do you 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:44.119 reckon with that you wanted to kill this man because 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:48.280 you've the baby killer, and yet he just walked right 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:52.440 by yourself and left all his belongings right at the 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.599 foot of your door. So I just wanted to add 0:06:55.640 --> 0:07:01.200 that because it's so important to to what the questions 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:06.159 I have about the definitely, you know, and it goes 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:08.160 back to what I was saying. If you find an 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:12.760 innocent person, it changes people's mind. Is there any circumstance 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:19.040 in which the death penalty is justified. No, I don't 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:24.200 believe it's justified because I think it's morally wrong. It's arbitrary. 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:29.040 I mean, I honestly think a lot of people in America, 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:33.160 I think it is morelly wrong. But I would challenge 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:35.120 those people who believe in it to put it on 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:39.840 the evening knows the actual execution. Don't do it in 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:41.880 the middle of the night. Do it in the middle 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:45.120 of the day. But they don't want their kids to 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:49.360 see it. They don't want to see it because deep 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:53.600 down this side, you cannot kill a human being. People, 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:59.880 people who recognize, who see other people ask him be 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:03.640 can't do it. You need a monster, You need someone 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:07.360 who's sick. That's what you need. Has your opinion of 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:10.119 the death penalty changed over the years since it's become 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:15.920 so personal for you? No? No, you know, before I 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:17.920 got a death for what I was gonna saying, Quentin 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.920 and I lived on a tier with people on death row, 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:23.560 and I want my watch and walked by myself and 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.400 I said, well, you know what, what in the row 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.640 is he's sleeping on, you know, And it was really 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:33.760 really personal that I saw people that I I got 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.520 to know who are on death row. When we come back, 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.119 Jarvis will tell the story of one person in particular 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:41.280 he got to know on death row and what it 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.319 was like in the days leading up to December two 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:55.120 five when that close personal friend was executed. So you 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.440 said you've known people who have been executed. Did you 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:02.520 see him walk down to the chamber? How did that unfold? 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:08.240 So if you though I know that people, but I 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:12.000 don't know, I don't know anybody, because it did Stanley 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:17.120 Chucky Williams that I knew personally, and then I thought 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:20.840 get executed. One of the last men to be executed 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.480 in California was the notorious leader of the Cripts gang. 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:27.360 Stanley TOOKI Williams. In two thousand five. I asked former 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:30.840 Warden Vasquez if he had been familiar with Tookie Williams 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:35.280 during his time at San Quentin. Yes. I was become 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:37.800 somewhat of a rallying cry for people who believe in 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:42.520 rehabilitation because he wrote children's books and he apparently turned 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:45.400 his life around in prison. Did you see any of that? 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:49.680 Did you witness his rehabilitation. No, not really. I mean, 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:52.920 I you know, he was just one of of When 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:55.440 I left the institution, I think there was about six 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:59.280 hundred thirty four inmates on death row, so he was 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:03.440 just one of six four in To me, he wasn't anything, 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:08.720 uh special or you know. I saw him days before, 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:12.560 you know, his execution. But we're in a visiting room 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:16.400 and he was having his last visits, you know, with 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:20.160 his family and friends and his his girlfriend, she may 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:28.120 have been his wife. He he was so strong and 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:31.720 I don't mean, you know, you can barely know he 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.160 was on death row. You can barely tell that he 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:37.880 was going to be executed. I didn't see it, and 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.080 I looked for it that he didn't have it. He 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:43.440 didn't have it. I thought maybe he believed that he 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:45.720 was going to win his appeal in the last minute. 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:48.600 I didn't know what was going on, but I was 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.720 looking for something and I didn't see it. He kept 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:55.520 his family laughing, He kept his people laughing. It was 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:59.360 like the last supper, and I kind of felt with 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:01.840 that was about, you know, I felt that he was 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:05.000 just holding them. Let's call Andrew a California number will 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:07.880 be monitored and recorded. You go out there and you 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:10.840 see a lot of people who want to client, and 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.520 you you hold him up. You know, you say, no, 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.520 this is not gonna happen, or you know, I'm gonna 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:22.480 love you guys no matter where I am. Um, so 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:27.080 I got I got that sense. But him being executed 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:34.200 two days later was it was I just believe that 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:41.560 he knew something I couldn't know and it may not happen, 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:45.360 or that there was some resolve that it was going 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:49.360 to happen. Uh, but I couldn't read what he thought. 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:53.560 You know, let's her friends. Oh yeah, he was a 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:58.320 good friend of mine. Yes. Uh. In fact, his first book, 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:01.679 in my first book, we were writing it together and 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:05.160 the Adjustment Center on the first tier. He had an 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:09.120 idea of write a book about kids, and I had 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:13.480 this idea of writing stories, you know, um, short stories. 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:19.440 So we were writing at the same time. You know, 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:23.000 I couldn't spell a lick, so he always I used 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:24.960 to always call him over and asking how to spell 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:28.840 certain words. And over the years, you know, he went 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:31.880 one way on death row and I stayed in Adjustment Center. 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:35.600 He came back once or twice, but you know, for 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:41.680 twenty seven years. I was an adjustment center, and UM 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:45.840 only saw him when he came, you know, came and left, 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:50.920 you know, but I knew him personally. But I couldn't 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:53.760 I couldn't get a sense of where where he was. 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:58.000 You know, what was the day? It was? It was, 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:00.880 I don't know. It was a very cool day. We 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:05.040 were not on lockdown. Uh. He walked with the same 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:09.480 two guards he always They escorted him. He didn't have 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:14.480 no It was the same restraints that he would normally 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:17.679 have that they normally put on you, rather you're a 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:20.880 death row or not. It was those same restraints. He 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.240 wasn't in bald chain and the leg irons on anything. 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:28.480 So I didn't see a dying man, you know, I 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:31.040 didn't see a man who's going to be executed. When 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:34.040 he was walking towards the chamber. Do the the other 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:37.640 prisoners show respect. I don't know how that works. I 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.440 really don't know how that works. You know, they keep 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:44.840 that stuff top secret. You know, I really don't know 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:48.040 how that works. I really don't. I know that they 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:51.120 in the last twenty four hours of seventy two hours, 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:55.160 they put you on death watch. They put you in 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:58.800 the isolating zell and they watch everything you do, you know, 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.040 and they log everything thing you do and they write 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:05.440 with you what you did need you know. But I 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:07.679 mean that's what I just don't know from you know, 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.600 from word of mouth. I have no idea, you know, 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:17.560 I know, I don't even know where where it's actually done. 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:23.440 You know, Um, I have no idea where that's at. 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:27.120 Not too many people do. Really, it's that's amazing. So 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:30.360 you don't even know where the chamber is. Well, I 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:32.720 mean we knew where the gas chamber is, you know, 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:37.160 because the gas chambers there a hundred years ago, you know, 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:42.200 and then they removed. But this table, this execution table, 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:46.160 you know, no, I know, I didn't know where it was. 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:50.840 Did you hear that it was dismantled? Yeah, Anti lot 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:55.840 saw it on television, and we are as I speak, 0:14:57.360 --> 0:15:02.920 as I speak, shutting out removing the equipment in the 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:08.720 death chamber. At Sam Clinton, the governor made a very 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:12.240 serious point when you know, when when there's that visual 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:16.480 you know, and we were watching, you know, parts of 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:19.920 it come out on the door. You know. Um, that 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:22.800 was a very powerful statement. But they also got a 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:27.400 lot of people mad too, and I think, uh, those 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:32.840 numbers of people who believe that the death penalty are increasing. 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:36.880 Because of that, I think there's uh underneath our feet. 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:40.000 There's a lot of people who are getting ready to 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:43.480 spent a lot of money to put the death penalty 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:48.760 back in action if the governor wins the next election. 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:51.800 Why do you think they're motivated to do that? In 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.560 my heart of hearts, I think people believe that if 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:57.800 you stand in line, you vote on the death penalty, 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:01.320 in that vote is discredit didn't taken away from you. 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:04.920 People are upset, you know, and they voted for the 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:09.800 death killery. And people believe that their vote will stolen 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:14.200 and the victims had no right to have that spelled 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:19.000 taken someone like that, you know, and that is a 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:24.560 response to the governor. Uh, juries are are voting to 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.680 give people the death killing. Now those Jewels who believe 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:31.000 that they vote were stolen, they're they're they're taking it out. 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:33.520 You know, I'm in the Bay Area. You find very 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:37.200 few people who believe in the death killing. You know, 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.280 I know people who ain't never met anyone who believe 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:43.840 in the death telling. But if you go to Orange County, 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:47.000 if you go to San Berndino County, if you go 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:50.280 to the whole half part of Riverside County. And then 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:53.400 if you specially go up here, up north and all 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:57.160 these other counties, they're totally want the death pillty, you know, 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:00.560 and they're and and they're doing something about it. According 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.360 to Gallup, opposition to the death penalty is actually at 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:06.280 its highest point in almost half a century, though a 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:11.680 majority of Americans continue to support capital punishment for individuals 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:23.400 convicted of murder. Wait what you yeah, Okay, okay, we'll talk. 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:30.960 We'll talk, all right, he will, he will. In landmark 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:34.919 case back in nineteen seventy two Ferman v. Georgia, the 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:38.560 Supreme Court had actually abolished capital punishment, though it was 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:42.840 eventually reinstated only four years later. Justice Potter Stewart stated 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:46.240 at the time that the death penalty was quote so 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:50.359 wantonly and freakishly imposed. It was cruel and unusual, in 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:52.760 the same way that being struck by lightning is cruel 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:55.919 and unusual. The only justice on the Supreme Court to 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.200 ever litigate a death penalty case, Justice third Good Marshal, 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:02.359 also can heard with the firm in Georgia case. An 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:06.520 adamant abolitionist, he believed that the more informed voters were 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:09.399 about the arbitrary nature of the death penalty, the less 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:12.520 likely they would be to supported a theory referred to 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:17.040 today as the martial hypothesis. Up next, Stanford law professor 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.960 Larry Marshall, no relation to third Good breaks down the 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:23.840 veracity of the martial hypothesis and the fascinating way in 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:34.160 which Larry was first introduced to Jarvis's plate. I'm Larry Marshall, 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:40.240 and I am a professor of law at Stanford University 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:44.560 and UH and the lawyer as well. So I got 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:48.439 a call from someone asking if I was available the 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:55.200 next day to speak with Oprah Winfrey about a case UH. 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:58.720 And I said yes, And I got on the phone 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:03.359 and she wash, you know, very passionate about Jarvis's case 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:07.399 and about trying to make sure that he got, you know, 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:13.600 world class representation. And I told her that I would 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:17.600 do my best to help find lawyers who would be 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:21.239 able to take the case to the next level. In 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:24.600 the course of my work for coast to thirty years, 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:30.480 I have met thousands, thousands of people who have said 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:33.800 I used to support the death penalty, but the more 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:37.679 I've learned about its vices and flaws and risks, and 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:41.400 so on I've now come to oppose it. I've not 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:45.560 met a single person who says I used to oppose 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:48.920 the death penalty, But the more I learned about its 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:53.840 accuracy and its fairness, and its cost effectiveness and it's justice, 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:57.080 I've now come to support it. And I submit to 0:19:57.119 --> 0:20:02.200 you the measure of any public policy is what impact 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:08.040 does information have on public opinion? And here, if people 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:11.520 can be educated, and this is the martial hypothesis, if 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:15.199 people can be educated about the death penalty, they will 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:23.120 in huge numbers come to oppose the death penalty. Perhaps 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:26.480 hearing Jervis's story will compel some to test the accuracy 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:30.440 of the martial hypothesis on themselves. Jarvis has maintained his 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:33.160 innocence in the crime that put him on death row. 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:37.160 Reputable legal scholars who have researched his case have declared 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.840 him factually innocent. None of us can know for absolute 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:44.520 certainty that he's telling the truth, but similarly, none of 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:48.399 us can know for absolute certainty that he's not telling 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:52.280 the truth. A man's life hangs in the precarious balance 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:56.560 of this ambiguity. We are as judge and jury. What 0:20:56.640 --> 0:21:00.800 we know for absolute certain is that one Jarvis never 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:05.439 murdered anyone. Two Jarvis may be guilty of forming the 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:10.200 SHIV that killed Sergeant birch Field, and equally, three Jarvis 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:13.080 may not be guilty of forming the SHIV that killed 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:17.400 Sergeant birch Field. With this level of uncertainty, can there 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:23.720 be a conscionable justification to execute an American citizen death penalty? Focus, 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:27.160 the nonprofit devoted to ending the death penalty, dubbed last 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:31.600 Year the Year of Executing Innocence, and Alabama Death Row 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:37.400 inmate has been executed. Dominique Ray was executed on February seven, nineteen. 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:40.920 Dominique Ray died tonight at home in correctional facility and 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:44.280 a more Mr. Ray was convicted based solely on the 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:48.040 testimony of a witness with schizophrenia who was delusional and 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:52.240 actively hallucinating. The witness's mental state was known to the 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:57.400 prosecutors but never disclosed. His attorneys were inexperienced, underpaid, and 0:21:57.480 --> 0:22:02.280 did very little investigation. There was substantial evidence of innocence, 0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:07.600 which the jury never heard. On August one, nineteen, Larry 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:11.280 Swearingen was executed in Texas. He went to his death tonight, 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:14.320 maintaining his innocence. He was executed for the murder of 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:17.880 a nineteen year old woman. There was no physical evidence 0:22:17.920 --> 0:22:21.080 associating him with the crime, there was no matching DNA, 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:25.280 and the day the murder most likely took place, Mr 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:30.240 Swearingen was locked up in the county jail for traffic violations. Tonight, 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:34.200 Texas executed Larry swearingein at the State Penitentiary in Huntsville. 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:38.560 The death chamber. His lawyers claimed, quote a combination of 0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:42.919 flawed science and overblown testimony condemned an innocent man, and 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:46.159 according to the Death Penalty Information Center, nineteen of the 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:50.000 twenty two prisoners who were executed in twenty had quote 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:55.240 significant evidence of mental illness, brain impairments, intellectual disability, or 0:22:55.320 --> 0:23:00.560 chronic serious childhood trauma. Sadly, appears no less lethal for 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:04.480 innocent people on death row despite weak evidence in subpar 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:08.479 representation in his two thousand five trial, Forty three year 0:23:08.520 --> 0:23:12.000 old Nathaniel Woods was executed just two months ago for 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:15.200 his connection to the murders of three Birmingham police officers. 0:23:15.640 --> 0:23:18.200 This despite the fact that he didn't shoot the gun, 0:23:18.400 --> 0:23:20.760 he didn't even hold the gun. He maintained that he 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:23.080 dropped to his knees in an attempt to surrender to 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:26.520 the officers who barged into the apartment. The man who 0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:30.240 actually fired the gun. Death row inmate Carry Spencer said 0:23:30.320 --> 0:23:34.800 Nate was actually one innocent. Two of the twelve jurors 0:23:34.880 --> 0:23:37.480 voted to spare Nate's life, and a sister of one 0:23:37.480 --> 0:23:40.119 of the slain officers made a last minute call to 0:23:40.200 --> 0:23:44.000 Alabama Governor k I Vy's office to postpone the execution 0:23:44.080 --> 0:23:47.560 date to allow more time to investigate the evidence. On 0:23:47.720 --> 0:23:51.280 that call, she said, quote, he didn't kill my brother, 0:23:51.600 --> 0:23:54.480 and he didn't kill the other officers. May they rest 0:23:54.560 --> 0:23:57.480 in peace. I'm asking for mercy, and I believe my 0:23:57.560 --> 0:24:00.119 brother would want me to take the same stance as 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:03.520 of the man. He was. Sadly that plea fell on 0:24:03.640 --> 0:24:08.600 deaf ears because staunch pro life Governor Ivy was pro death. 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:11.120 That day, high profile individuals from the son of Martin 0:24:11.200 --> 0:24:13.960 Luther King Jr. To Director Ava du Verney to Kim 0:24:14.040 --> 0:24:17.800 Kardashian West all tweeted against Woods's execution, but the Governor 0:24:17.840 --> 0:24:21.760 of Alabama released a statement doubling down, saying, this is 0:24:21.800 --> 0:24:24.200 not a decision that I take lightly, but I firmly 0:24:24.280 --> 0:24:27.120 believe in the rule of law and that justice must 0:24:27.119 --> 0:24:30.520 be served. Staunch pro life, Governor Ivy has presided over 0:24:30.600 --> 0:24:34.560 nine executions on her watch since twenty seventeen. Last year, 0:24:34.640 --> 0:24:39.240 Governor Ivey signed into law and abortion bands citing Alabamians 0:24:39.720 --> 0:24:43.399 deeply held belief that every life is precious and that 0:24:43.560 --> 0:24:47.840 every life is a sacred gift from God. Nate's sister 0:24:47.880 --> 0:24:51.760 Pamela believed Nate was a precious gift. Nate's father, Nate Sr. 0:24:51.880 --> 0:24:55.399 Believed Nate was a precious gift. Tens of thousands of 0:24:55.520 --> 0:25:00.680 Nates supporters believed him to be a precious gift. Dear 0:25:00.720 --> 0:25:06.119 Governor Newsome, my name is Pema Children, and I'm a 0:25:06.160 --> 0:25:12.560 Western Buddhist nun and a teacher of students throughout the world, 0:25:13.320 --> 0:25:17.159 most of whom aren't even necessarily Buddhists. And I've written 0:25:17.160 --> 0:25:20.480 a number of books, and probably the most well known 0:25:20.600 --> 0:25:27.440 is called When Things Fall Apart. I've known Jarvis Masters 0:25:27.440 --> 0:25:31.560 over twenty years as a friend and as his spiritual advisor, 0:25:32.320 --> 0:25:35.280 and I have no doubt at all, really no doubt 0:25:35.320 --> 0:25:38.840 at all, that Jarvis was not part of the conspiracy 0:25:39.560 --> 0:25:43.520 that resulted in the death of Sergeant Birchfield. I don't 0:25:43.520 --> 0:25:49.600 know if What I know was after Fining Freedom was 0:25:49.960 --> 0:25:54.080 published and I heard that someone who gave her my 0:25:54.240 --> 0:26:00.199 book Fining Freedom. And after that there's this point, you know, 0:26:00.840 --> 0:26:05.520 we start writing each other and everything else. It's like 0:26:05.640 --> 0:26:08.040 a blank for me. I can't remember anything else. Did 0:26:08.040 --> 0:26:11.399 she come to visit you? Oh? Yeah, she visits me 0:26:11.920 --> 0:26:16.520 almost twice a year, once a year. You want to 0:26:16.520 --> 0:26:22.719 talk about joy? Here you are death row and locked 0:26:22.760 --> 0:26:27.680 in a in a page and you're laughing all for 0:26:27.680 --> 0:26:33.280 for for two and a half hours. You know, Uh, 0:26:33.680 --> 0:26:37.840 that's what that? You know, how you get a little 0:26:37.880 --> 0:26:40.880 of that? You know, you've got to love her. How 0:26:40.880 --> 0:26:43.440 can you not love someone who's able to do that? 0:26:43.640 --> 0:26:48.680 You know? Jonvis isn't exceptionally compassionate man that literally spends 0:26:48.720 --> 0:26:53.840 almost all of this time helping other inmates. He has 0:26:53.840 --> 0:26:58.080 written two beautiful books about his life. But really the 0:26:58.160 --> 0:27:01.560 most important thing is that he is innocent. He's an 0:27:01.600 --> 0:27:04.840 innocent man who does not deserve to be in prison 0:27:05.480 --> 0:27:08.320 even a day longer. Every time my songer, it was 0:27:09.280 --> 0:27:11.840 it was something special for me and being she started 0:27:11.880 --> 0:27:16.359 introducing me to other Buddhists and that she knew in 0:27:16.440 --> 0:27:19.760