Fellow Abolitionists,

Well, it's official. Maryland Gov. Ehrlich has cleared the way for executions to resume and Baltimore County prosecutors are seeking a death warrant against Steven Oken. The execution date is set for the week of March 17th.

See: www.sunspot.net/sns-ap-death-warrant0122jan22.story

This is outrage demands a response.

There are two events going on this weekend. Please make every effort to attend at least one of them.

1) Baltimore -- Saturday, January 25, at 1:00 pm
Mt. Hope Baptist Church
1716 Gwynns Falls Parkway
(corner of Gwynns Falls & Reisterstown Rd, across from Mondawmin
Mall). Questions--> contact Terry Fitzgerald, 443-741-3435

I will be contacting chapter heads to get reps from all the DC
chapters to attend this important meeting!
If you need a ride from DC contact Mike at 202-271-8014.

2) Washington, DC -- contact JohnCoursey-AT-hotmail.com to help out
with tabling and a panel at this weekend's National Conference of
Organized Resistence at American University. We are tabling both
Saturday and Sunday and holding a panel on Sunday. THis is a
big event that draws hundreds of activists from across country
each year. See conference details at: OrganizedResistence.org

I am reposting the CEDP's statement made last year on Steven Oken's
case. An updated fact sheet and petition will follow.


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Statement from the Campaign to End the Death Penalty on the scheduled
execution of Steven Oken

January 16, 2002

The Baltimore-Washington chapters of the Campaign to End the Death
Penalty (CEDP), representing over 300 activists from across Maryland and
Washington, DC, vigorously oppose Baltimore County Circuit Judge Turnbull's
decision to sign a death warrant for Steven Oken.
The CEDP calls on Governor Glendening to immediately enact a moratorium
on executions in Maryland. With the Governor's own study of the death
penalty underway at the University of Maryland it makes no sense to resume
executions before that study and its recommendations are complete. Plenty
of evidence already exists to indicate that Maryland's system of capital
punishment is rife with problems -- disparities in sentencing, possible
innocent inmates, and evidence of racism continues to plague Maryland's
death penalty.
The CEDP also calls on the Maryland Court of Appeals, as the highest
court in Maryland charged with the administration of the death penalty, to
immediately stay this execution. Far from having exhausted his legal
options in the courts, Steven Oken deserves the right to have his arguments
regarding the constitutionality of MD's death penalty statute heard before
the US Supreme Court. Executing Steven Oken before the US Supreme Court
rules on the applicability of its Apprendi ruling on death penalty cases
would violate the principal of due process.
The CEDP recognizes several problems with the state's plans to execute
Steven Oken. Firstly, he was already serving a term of Life Without the
Possibility of Parole in Maine when he was brought to Maryland to stand
trial. The jury was never properly instructed that Steven would never walk
the streets again. Instead, prosecutors had several expert witnesses
testify to the fact that Steven's mental illness represented a continued
threat to the public and called on the jury to perform their "patriotic and
community duty" in seeking the death sentence.
Secondly, Steven Oken is a psychologically disturbed individual who was
heavily abusing drugs at the time of the crime. His execution will not
address the deeper problem of identifying and treating other individuals
suffering from the same mental disturbance in our society and, ultimately,
it will create more victims.
Lastly, the death penalty is dead wrong. The pain of the victim's family
in this case will not be addressed by Steven's execution. It is unhealthy
and immoral to keep the families of victims in a state of waiting in the
hopes that a single act of vengeance will ease their suffering -- it won't.
We must not destroy Steven's family in a misguided attempt to serve justice
for the Garvin family. Also, in a society deeply divided by divisions of
race and class, the pain of some always seems more relevant and worthy of
vengeance than others. It is only by removing vengeance as a motive that we
can administer justice fairly.
The tragic murder of Dawn Marie Garvin does not change the reality of
Maryland's death penalty system. On the contrary, it is a consistent and
disturbing feature of Maryland's death penalty to see opportunistic State's
Attorneys and politicians capitalize on human tragedy as a way of
repackaging and selling the failed solution of the death penalty.
The United States continues to suffer isolation in the international
community for its use of the death penalty. In addition, recent trends
inside the US have been to restrict and limit the use of capital punishment.
Maryland should not buck this trend; it would be better off following the
example of Illinois, where the potential killing of the innocent led to a
moratorium on all executions.
We would like to remind the people of Maryland that this state has only
executed 3 people in over 30 years and each of those 3 executions has
brought about intense debate and opposition over the State's right to kill.
The only difference with Steven Oken's execution will be measured in the
increased strength and resolve of the abolitionist movement in Maryland.
The members of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty have repeatedly
expressed their resolve that there will be no more executions in Maryland.
We know history is on our side. We know that Maryland' death penalty law
will soon be part of the past and we intend to demonstrate that fact to the
politicians, judges, and corrections officials of Maryland.


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The death penalty punishes the poor. It is racist. It
does not deter crime. It kills innocent people. It is
cruel and unusual punishment.

Check out the Campaign to End the Death Penalty's Website
at: www.nodeathpenalty.org