Felony Murder Rule: William Van Poyck – Florida

William Van Poyck is on death row for a murder he did not commit.

William Van Poyck, aka, “Billy” has been on death row since 1988 for a killing he did not commit. On the heels of new legislation in Florida to speed up executions,Governor Scott  has signed his death warrant. Billy was convicted under Florida’s felony-murder rule, which states that if a person commits a felony and someone dies during the course of that felony, he is guilty of felony murder.

How does this happen? Billy was involved in an attempt to free an inmate from a prison van. During this botched attempt, a correctional officer was killed. Billy’s co-defendant, Frank Valdes, was subsequently identified as the actual, sole triggerman. Billy did not even see it happen. Because of the felony-murder rule, both Billy and Frank received death sentences. The actual killer, Frank Valdes, died in July of 1999 as the result of a beating by guards at Florida State Prison.

Frank Valdes was indeed MURDERED by 8 prison guards at Florida State Prison in 1999. Those guards stomped Frank to death in retaliation for the killing of  correctional officer, Fred Griffis. The following are excerpts from articles I will link to. What is happening in this case is absolutely insane. The Judge, Charles Burton has appointed lawyers that have stated they have no expertise to represent Van Poyck as the clock ticks toward his scheduled June 12 execution.

Despite pleas today from Van Poyck’s attorney that he is incapable of representing the condemned murderer through complex, high-stakes last-minute appeals, Circuit Judge Charles Burton showed no interest in derailing the execution.

“This is not an unanticipated event,” Burton said of Gerald Bettman’s claims that he represented Van Poyck as a favor and never imagined he would be forced to handle his appeals under the strict deadlines that are set after a death warrant is signed.

“Before you execute someone you have to appoint a lawyer who is competent,” Bettman replied.

But, Burton said, the matter is out of his hands. “Any beef you have is with the Florida Supreme Court, not me,” he said.

The high court on Wednesday rejected Bettman’s so-called “notice of non-representation” and ordered him to handle Van Poyck’s case.

Other attorneys who specialize in death penalty cases called Bettman’s predicament unprecedented. “It’s shocking to me that they’re going to force an attorney who is unqualified to handle the appeals,” said Martin McClain, one of the state’s top death penalty defense attorneys.

“Everyone’s willing to clear the decks and put in the time necessary,” he said. “But (four) days — that’s just not enough time.”

“Frankly, this is the kind of case that gives the death penalty a bad name.”

I am asking you all to please sign Williams petition which can be found HERE. 

No one who is facing the death penalty should have to go through this. This is much worse than a Kangaroo Court, this is bizarre. But the real issue here is RETALIATION and Vengence.  I have known of this case for years, as I am very good friends with Frank Valdes’ widow. I am absolutely convinced William is and has been railroaded… because a prison guard was killed. The real issue here is that William is the fall guy. Now the State of Florida wants to kill him….after 25 years on death row. This is not justice. Please sign the petition…and share William’s story.

Articles on the bizarre court happenings in Poyck’s case:

‘They’re going to kill him,’ attorney for condemned killer says as judge refuses to delay execution

High court reverses ruling on Palm Beach County Death Row case lawyers

Lawyers ordered to defend Van Poyck in death-sentence appeal say they lack time, resources

Williams Blog- maintained by his sister:

Death Row Diary

Gov. Rick Scott has signed a Death Warrant for William Van Poyck and has scheduled his execution for Wednesday, June 12th at 6pm ET. Billy Van Poyck is to be killed for the 1987 homicide of corrections officer Fred Griffis during a failed escape attempt.

Please TAKE ACTION!!! Contact Governor Rick Scott and ask him to STOP SIGNING DEATH WARRANTS and VETO THE TIMELY JUSTICE ACT.

Gov. Rick Scott – Phone: 850-488-7146

Email: Rick.Scott@eog.myflorida.com

Related articles

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The “School to Prison Pipeline” IS reality…..

and if California was not enough to anger you…read this….we all should be outraged! Take action & sign the petition at the bottom of this post and share with others, please!

16-Year-Old Girl Arrested and Charged With a Felony For Science Project Mistake

No one was hurt. Nothing was damaged. The criminalization of school kids has gone too far.

Photo Credit: WTSP-TV

 

A Florida teen with an exemplary record is facing federal charges after conducting what a classmate calls “a science project gone bad.”

16-year-old Kiera Wilmot is accused of mixing housing chemicals in a small water bottle at Bartow High School, causing the cap to fly off and produce a bit of smoke. The experiment was conducted outdoors, no property was damaged, and no one was injured.

Not long after Wilmot’s experiment, authorities arrested her and charged her with “possession/discharge of a weapon on school property and discharging a destructive device,” according to WTSP-TV. The school district proceeded to expel Wilmot for handling the “dangerous weapon,” also known as a water bottle. She will have to complete her high school education through an expulsion program.

Friends and staffers, including the school principal, came to Wilmot’s defense, telling media that authorities arrested an upstanding student who meant no harm.

“She is a good kid,” principal Ron Richard told WTSP-TV. “She has never been in trouble before. Ever.”

“She just wanted to see what happened to those chemicals in the bottle,” a classmate added. “Now, look what happened.”

Polk County Schools stands by its decision to expel Wilmot, asserting in a statement, “there are consequences to actions,” and calling Wilmot’s experiment a “serious breach of conduct.”

h/t Reason

Petitioning Joe Hall

State Attorney Jerry Hill: Drop charges against Kiera Wilmot

click here to sign

 

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Honor Trayvon Martin: Build the movement

One year ago, George Zimmerman shot and killed 17 year-old Trayvon Martin because he thought the young man looked suspicious.And one year later, what happened that night in Sanford, Florida still outrages us.

In a culture that inundates us with images of Black men as violent — not to be trusted, inherently criminal — we are continually reminded that something as simple as walking home from the corner store can draw unwanted attention that puts our very lives in danger. Black Americans face racial animosity every day, and far too often that animosity turns violent.

Today as we mourn, we must also acknowledge that if it weren’t for the hundreds of thousands of you who spoke up to demand basic dignity and justice, Trayvon Martin’s case would have been ignored — and George Zimmerman would have gone free.

 

 

Build the Movement towards Justice for Trayvon…take action here

 

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America’s prison population is shrinking. But will it last?

by Brad Plumer

For decades now, social scientists and criminologists have been railing against America’s sky-high incarceration rate. There are 1.5 million adults in state and federal prisons around the country, and many experts believe the costs now vastly outweigh the benefits.

So at first glance, this December report from the U.S. Justice Department looks like encouraging news. After years of relentless increases, the number of adults in state and federal prisons has finally started dropping, declining slightly in 2010 and then falling 0.9 percent in 2011 (or 15,023 fewer prisoners):

Why the decline? As the report details, about 70 percent of the state-level drop was due to California. Back in 2011, the state legislature passed new laws to shrink the prison population in response to a court order. As a result, California slowed down the rate of admissions and had 15,000 fewer prisoners by the end of the year. (Here’s an analysis from the ACLU on the ups and downs of California’s policy—many would-be prisoners are now being placed instead in county jails or shifted to post-release programs.)

But it wasn’t just California. Twenty-five other states also saw their prison populations drop slightly, with New Jersey, New York, Florida, and Texas each shedding at least 1,000 state prisoners. In general, states appear to be locking up fewer drug offenders and focusing more heavily on violent offenders, the report said.

The picture is very different at the federal level, however. Federal prisons actually added 6,409 new inmates in 2011, an increase of 3.4 percent. That was driven by yet another steep rise in drug sentencing — drug offenders now make up nearly half of the 198,000 federal inmates. So far, Congress hasn’t felt the same budget pressures that states have to thin out its prisons.

Continue Reading @ Washington Post

 

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Shades of Frank Valdes

FDLE launches criminal probe following inmate death

The Florida Department of Corrections ended weeks of silence and confirmed the probe in response to questions around an inmate’s suspicous death.

By Steve Bousquet

Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE — Florida prison officials have ordered a criminal investigation and the transfers of five key employees following a suspicious death of an inmate at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford.

The Department of Corrections ended weeks of silence Thursday and confirmed the probe in response to questions.

“We do have an active criminal investigation into an inmate death that happened in early September of this year at Union Correctional Institution,” prison spokeswoman Ann Howard said. “There may be more investigations opened.”

The agency has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to spearhead an investigation into the death of Frank Smith, 44. He died of injuries Sept. 4 following a violent confrontation with corrections officers who were transporting him in a state prison vehicle from a hospital back to the prison.

Howard said the investigation involves “whether this was an excessive use of force.”

The statement added: “We take the safety of inmates very seriously which is why we have asked FDLE to take over this case. The DOC administration has instructed all DOC personnel to fully comply with this investigation.”

The Alachua County medical examiner’s office said an autopsy on Smith would not be complete for up to three months.

Smith, described on the prison system’s website as 5 feet 8 and 129 pounds, was near the end of a 16-year sentence for carjacking and other offenses.

Corrections Secretary Ken Tucker has declined to discuss the case, and prison officials have declined comment for three weeks, citing federal laws that protect the confidentiality of inmates’ medical conditions.

But on Thursday, Assistant Secretary of Institutions Timothy Cannon announced lateral transfers of five Union personnel, including Warden Barry Reddish.

Also shifted to other prisons were two assistant wardens, Nan Jeffcoat and Mike Willis; Col. Ben Godwin; and Maj. Philip Jefferson.

The agency is holding a press conference Friday where Cannon will introduce the new Union warden: Diane Andrews, who has worked in the prison system for about 30 years. Andrews had been warden at Madison Correctional, east of Tallahassee.

It’s the first time in more than a decade that prison officials have invited the media to meet a new warden.

Florida’s prison system is the nation’s third-largest and Union is one of its oldest and largest prisons. Opened in 1913, the prison is home to many death row inmates and is where most Floridians’ car license tags are made.

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No Justice When Women Fight Back

By Victoria Law, Truthout

 

(Photo: Prison via Shutterstock)

 

What do a nineteen-year-old lesbian from New Jersey, a 23-year-old trans woman in Minneapolis and a 31-year-old mother in Florida have in common? All three were attacked, all three fought back and all three were arrested. All three are currently in prison while their attackers remain free. Oh, yes, and all three are black women.

Marissa Alexander is a 31-year-old mother of three. She is also a survivor of violence at the hands of her ex, Rico Gray. In 2009, Alexander obtained a restraining order against Gray. Learning that she was pregnant, she amended it to remove the ban on contact between her and Gray while maintaining the rest of the restraining order.

On August 1, 2010, nine days after Alexander had given birth to their daughter, Gray attacked her in her own home. “He assaulted me, shoving, strangling and holding me against my will, preventing me from fleeing all while I begged for him to leave,” Alexander recounted in an open letter to supporters. Alexander escaped into the garage, but realized that she had forgotten the keys to her truck and that the garage’s door opener was not working. She retrieved her gun, which was legally registered, and re-entered her home to either escape or grab her cell phone to call for help. “He came into the kitchen … and realized I was unable to leave … he yelled, ‘Bitch I will kill you!’ and charged toward me. In fear and a desperate attempt, I lifted my weapon up, turned away and discharged a single shot in the wall up in the ceiling.” Gray called the police and reported that Alexander had shot at him and his sons. Alexander was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Alexander attempted to invoke Stand Your Ground, but a pre-trial judge ruled that she could have escaped her attacker through the front or back doors of her home. During her trial, the jury was not allowed to see several letters, written by Gray’s former wives, girlfriends and in-laws, that recounted his history of abuse, including pistol-whippings, beatings, stripping them of their clothing and super-gluing door locks on them. Several letters also recounted instances in which Gray called the police after he had attacked them, claiming that they had attacked him. (In one instance, Gray stabbed himself with a fork and asked his younger son to tell the police that his girlfriend had done it.) In a sixty-six page deposition, Gray admitted to abusing all five of the women with whom he had children, including Alexander.

Instead of taking these facts into consideration, prosecutor Angela Corey added Florida’s 10-20-LIFE sentencing enhancement, mandating a 20-year minimum sentence when a firearm is discharged.

Not an Anomaly: Race, Gender and the Justice System

Alexander’s case is not an anomaly. Other women of color have defended themselves only to find the legal system more eager to prosecute and punish them than their assailants.

In August 2006, nineteen-year-old Patreese Johnson and six friends from Newark, New Jersey, took the train to New York’s West Village, a neighborhood historically known for its LGBTQ friendliness. As the women walked down the street, they were sexually propositioned by a man named Wayne Buckle. Buckle followed them, threatening to rape them and then physically attacked, choking one, ripping hair from their scalps and spitting on them. The women defended themselves and, at some point, were assisted by two unknown men. During the altercation, Buckle was stabbed. The women were arrested while the men left the scene.

All seven were black lesbians. In addition, three were masculine-appearing. “Their treatment [by the media and legal system] has been reflective of what they look like,” noted one supporter who needed to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals at work. Johnson agrees, writing recently, “Me being black and young, the jury, judge and DA’s minds was already made up.” (Letter, July 18, 2012.)

Police refused to credit the women’s statements, those of other witnesses and, ultimately, that of Buckle himself, who stated that the two men were responsible for stabbing him. Both the media and the prosecution framed them as a “lesbian wolf pack” and “killer lesbians.” Both media and prosecution also played on racialized fears around gang violence: Although none of the women had ever been in conflict with the law, media and prosecutors described them as a “gang.” In addition, neither the judge nor the prosecutor differentiated between the charge of “gang assault” (two or more people acting in concert to cause injury) and gang membership.

Three of the women accepted plea bargains and served six months; the remaining four – Venice Brown, Terrain Dandridge, Renata Hill and Patreese Johnson – became known as the New Jersey Four; they pled not guilty. They received sentences ranging from three-and-a-half to eleven years in prison.

Upon appeal, charges against Dandridge were dismissed while Brown and Hill were granted a retrial and subsequently accepted plea agreements. Johnson’s sentence was reduced from eleven to eight years. She remains in prison today. Dwayne Buckle was never arrested nor charged for attacking the women.

As reported last year in Truthout, 23-year-old CeCe McDonald, a young black transgender woman, and her friends were walking to the grocery store in Minneapolis when she was first verbally harassed, then physically attacked by the white patrons standing outside a bar. During the attack, a bar patron smashed a glass into McDonald’s face, slicing her cheek. As more people joined in the attack, Dean Schmitz, who had instigated the verbal harassment, was stabbed and later died in the hospital. McDonald was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. The woman who smashed glass into McDonald’s face was never arrested or charged.

During pre-trial motions, the judge ruled against McDonald’s ability to introduce evidence showing that the attack against her was motivated by her race and gender identity: Both Schmitz’s swastika and his three previous convictions for violent assault were ruled inadmissible. The judge also refused to allow an expert witness to testify about the pervasive and systemic violence faced by trans people on a daily basis. (Letter from CeCe McDonald, July 19, 2012.)

Faced with second-degree murder charges, a hostile court and the possibility of twenty to forty years, McDonald pled guilty to second-degree manslaughter due to negligence and was sentenced to forty-one months in prison. “She [also] has to pay for her attacker’s funeral,” noted Billy Navarro of the Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition and a member of her support committee. (Interview, July 26, 2012.)

These cases – and their verdicts – reflect an all-too-common reality in the United States: When women, particularly women of color, defend themselves, they often find themselves assaulted twice – first by their attacker, then by the legal system. The zealous prosecution, as well as the lack of charges against their attackers, reflects the pervasive and socially sanctioned violence against women, particularly women of color and the prevailing notion that women should not fight back. “Me being female, I wasn’t supposed to fight back,” Johnson noted. (Letter, July 18, 2012.)

Continue Reading @ TruthOut.org

 

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The Private Prison Industry: Resistance Isn’t Futile

By

Eric Lotke

The private prison industry is on the march. In recent months the industry moved to take over 24 state prisons in southern Florida and buy five prisons in Ohio. Now it’s making moves in Michigan.

But the industry doesn’t always win. Resistance isn’t futile.

The industry wanted to buy five prisons in Ohio but had to settle for one. Community members pushed back and corrections professionals raised doubts about cost savings and program effectiveness. Policy Matters Ohio demonstrated that selling the prison will likely cost more money than it produces. Yes, the state gets $73 million immediately for the sale — but the lease commits the state to pay $4 million annually for 20 years. So depending how cost estimates are done, the sale will end up costing the state anywhere from $8 million to $15 million more than traditional corrections.

Florida shows that the prison industry can’t make an honest case for the product it sells. The move to privatize 24 prisons was slipped into the annual budget bill, and opponents were literally eliminated. The Corrections chief, Edwin Buss, was forced to resign after expressing doubt that a proper “business case” for cost savings could be made. Senator Paula Dockery (R-Lakeland), an outspoken critic of privatization, was stripped of her seat on the Criminal Justice Committee, where such legislation is ordinarily heard. Senator Mike Fasano (R-New Port Richey) was stripped of his chairmanship of the Committee on Criminal Justice Appropriations when he questioned the accelerated process, compressed hearing schedule, and absence of opposing experts.

The legislation institutionalizes secrecy. SB 2036 exempts prisons from the “applicable cost benefit analyses, business case analyses, performance contracting procedures, service comparisons, and impacts on performance standards” used in every other procurement. No such analysis would be done until after the contract has been executed.

SB 2036 turns procurement into a joke. First, buy my car. Then, after you buy it, you can check my car’s condition, compare it to your own car or see if you need a new car at all.

A truly heroic effort killed the bill. A lawsuit by the Police Benevolent Association enforced the state law requiring that such action be in separate legislation not buried in general appropriations. Organized labor, faith groups and local leaders rose up in opposition. The privatization failed in a 21-19 Senate vote on Valentines Day.

Now Michigan. Michigan is interesting because it holds a bleeding wound. The North Lake Correctional Center in Baldwin was private from the beginning, built by Wackenhut now known as the GEO Group. The prison opened in 1999, closed in 2005, and had nothing but problems in between.

The North Lake prison was more expensive than 33 out of 37 other Michigan prisons. The state was paying $75.81 per person per day for confinement that cost $64.89 per day in sufficiently secure state facilities — even though the contractor was failing to provide counseling programs or contractually required levels of staff. At the same time, North Lake was three times more violent than Michigan’s other maximum-security prisons. In the first five months of operation North Lake reported 110 critical incidents, including 46 assaults and 12 attempted suicides.

The state didn’t even need the secure space it thought it might — so it did the right thing. It served notice and closed the facility.

GEO sued to keep the prison open or compel the state to continue making lease payments anyway. But GEO lost the lawsuit and the facility sat empty for years. GEO spent $60 million renovating it from 500 juveniles to 1,700 adults and landed some inmates from California for a few months in 2011 — but the contract didn’t last and the facility again sits empty. GEO is paying capital costs and a skeleton crew for no reason.

Continue Reading @ HuffPo

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Showdown Looms Over Private Prisons

By Howard Goodman
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting

Boca Raton-based GEO Group would be among the for-profit companies to benefit if the state privatizes prisons. (Photo courtesy of GEO Group.)

By Howard Goodman
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting

The state Senate appears ready for battle today over a GOP plan to turn over a lot more of the state’s prisons to private companies.

Republican leaders have been pushing hard to privatize one-fifth of the state’s corrections facilities along with all inmate health care. Right now, about 9,000 inmates are in the state’s seven privately run “correctional facilities,” a small fraction of the roughly 100,000 people incarcerated in the third-largest state prison system in the United States.

But the privatization plan has run into opposition, not only from Democrats but from some skeptical Republicans as well.

State Sen. Paula Dockery released a report showing that the state’s existing private prisons aren’t actually saving money over publicly run prisons — undercutting the outsourcers’ strongest argument.

She’s been joined in opposition by Sen. Mike Fasano, a Pasco County Republican who was stripped of his chairmanship of the criminal justice budget committee after questioning the privatization deal. Senate President Mike Haridopolos yanked the chairmanship after Fasano offered an amendment requiring a thorough study of privatization’s costs and benefits.

That amendment failed yesterday in a close vote, 21-19 — a close enough vote that GOP leaders couldn’t be sure they’ll be able to pass their privatization bill, which they plan to present today.

Months ago, Gov. Rick Scott fired his first corrections secretary, Ed Buss, for his tepid support for the lawmakers’ plans to privatize “all of the prisons in the 18-county region south of Polk County to the Florida Keys,” according to the Palm Beach Post.

Dockery, a Republican from Lakeland, was obviously referring to such heavy-handed moves in a statement issued yesterday. “In an effort to privatize our state’s prisons, Senate leaders are acting like politicians at their worst — twisting arms in backrooms and giving contracts to special interest donors,” Dockery said. “They need to start acting like any business in the private sector would and stop using imaginary numbers.”

Proponents of the sweeping privatization plan insist that Florida will save 7 percent over state-run prisons. But Dockery has noted that there are few reliable comparisons — prisons differ so greatly. And “there’s extensive evidence that shows private prisons have received the cream-of-the-crop inmates — leaving the state with more-expensive sick, elderly and dangerous prisoners.”

Continue Reading @ FCIR

The Silent Treatment

Imagine serving decades in prison for a crime your sibling framed you for. Now imagine doing it while profoundly deaf.

—By James Ridgeway

 

Illustration: Brian Stauffer

 

 

“This is a collect call from a correctional institution,” says the robotic female voice at the other end of the line. After a moment of confusion, I realize it must be Felix Garcia, whom I’d visited several weeks earlier in a northern Florida prison. He is serving a life sentence for a robbery-murder for which his own brother now admits to framing him. I’d sent him a card for his 50th birthday. It had a picture of flowers—something he probably hasn’t seen in 30 years—and some lame words of encouragement. Now he’s calling to thank me and to plead for help. His words seem surreal, relayed in the emotionless drone of a TTY operator: Four of his fellow deaf inmates have tried to commit suicide—one somehow managed to swallow a razor blade. It sounds like he’s thinking about doing the same. “Please,” the voice intones, “will you phone my lawyers? I can’t get through to them.”

Felix has been deaf, for all practical purposes, since childhood. For most of his three decades behind bars, which began when he was 19, he’s been housed in the general population with few special services for his disability. His experiences are the stuff of TV prison dramas: He’s ignored or taunted by guards, raped and brutalized by other prisoners. Last year, he tried to hang himself.

“Felix,” I plead awkwardly. “You are not going to kill yourself. Please, please, hold on.”

“I won’t do it,” he says finally. “I have Jesus.”

I repeat: “Do not kill yourself.”

“Yes, sir.” The call abruptly cuts off.

Continue Reading @ Mother Jones

In Florida, Using Military Discipline to Help Veterans in Prison

Jason Henry for The New York Times

Inmates in the special dorm for military veterans at Sumter Correctional Institution in Bushnell, one of the five prisons with such facilities in Florida.

 

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

James R. White, a Marine Corps veteran in a blue uniform, saluted crisply as the honor guard marched around the courtyard, stopped and marched again.

But there were no weapons in sight here. No polished shoes. No gleaming caps. The 85 men standing at attention wore prison garb. When the ceremony was over, they ambled back to their wing of Complex 1, a housing area set aside for military veterans serving time at Sumter Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison in rural central Florida.

Florida is one of a handful of states that are rethinking their treatment of incarcerated veterans in the hopes of easing their transition back to society and then keeping them out of prison for good. In August, the state created a program that provides separate dorms in five prisons for honorably discharged military veterans who have no more than three years left on their sentences and who volunteer for it. California and Illinois have similar programs, all designed to address the needs of imprisoned veterans better.

For now, 300 of Florida’s 6,700 incarcerated veterans live in the dorms, a number that state officials intend to increase. The state prison system houses 101,000 inmates in all.

“We’ve come a long way in a few months,” said Jeffrey P. Trovillion, the warden at Sumter Correctional, which does not house death row inmates. “It’s bringing back a sense of pride and discipline.”

While the veterans eat with inmates in the general population and share visitation and telephone schedules with them, the rest of their days, as far as possible, hew to military custom.

Continue Reading @ NY Times