During the frantic days preceding Amos King's state
sanctioned murder, so many dedicated folks poured their minds, hearts and
souls into a massive effort to make the state of Florida stop and consider
that they were very possibly about to murder without true justice being served.
It is with great admiration that I hereby award the
MTWT
Gold Star Award to the caring
people of the
Florida Support E-Group, motivated and
moderated by the tirelessly dynamic
Sissel of Denmark. The only motive they
hold for expending this tremendous energy is their righteous quality of love
for man and life, truth and justice.
This is also a tribute to a very special man, Venerable
Kobutsu Shindo Malone, zenji, who shared the final hours of Mr. King's life as his spiritual advisor. It takes a strong person to watch a calculated murder when he can do nothing to stop it.
In a world filled with hatred, their love lifted Amos King from hopelessness and despair to a dignity and peace we should all aspire to own. I cannot begin to name them all, but I'm sure Amos has already pointed them out to God and His Host of Angels.
Please forgive the lateness
of the following request. Amos King is scheduled to be killed on
January 24th. He's trying to fire his lawyers (corrupt - appointed by
Jeb! to speed the process instead of stop it) and there is a hearing
tomorrow on that matter.
Retired Orange County Public Defender Joe DuRocher and I will be in
Clearwater with several others, and we will hold a little press conference
to discuss issues of concern with regard to Mr. King's now-fired lawyers (CCRC Middle) - outside the courthouse at noon, tomorrow, Friday (1/11/01) prior to the 12:30pm hearing. It would be really great to have as much
presence there as possible. If you can possibly make it, please do. If you know someone who can be there, please forward this or call them.
Please be there at NOON, or better, a few minutes before. Thanks!
Criminal Justice Center
14250 49th St. N.
Clearwater, FL
paz!
--abe
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JANUARY 10, 2002
TIME RUNNING OUT FOR FLORIDA'S LATEST CLAIM OF INNOCENCE
Amos King fires attorneys to save his life
Almost twenty five years ago Amos King was tried and convicted of
murder on not much more than circumstantial evidence. Since the
beginning, he has maintained his
innocence and fought to receive a fair trial and the chance to prove
his innocence in a court of law. But, for Mr. King, time is running
out.
Amos King is scheduled to die by lethal injection on January 24th at
6:00 p.m. At a time when a condemned man should be fighting alongside
his attorneys to win last minute appeals, Mr. King is battling against
his.
As far back as 1989, Amos King was demanding that DNA testing be done,
but with no assistance from his attorneys at that time, his demands
were ignored. Today, Amos faces the same battle, and again, no help
from those whose sworn oath it is to save him. Complicating matters is
the fact that most of the evidence that could have been tested for DNA
results was destroyed by the State Medical Examiner as early as 1979.
What little evidence that does remain could be tested by FBI labs.,
and Barry Scheck's Innocence Project has expressed an interest in
assisting, yet Mr. King's current attorneys have not followed through
on promises made to Amos to have this option explored.
This is but one of many broken promises made to Amos King by his
appeals attorneys over the past 24 years, but of all of them, this is
the most fatal.
Governor Bush prides himself in offering "multiple levels of
appeals" to those sentenced to death, and implied that Juan
Melendez, even though released, was not necessarily wrongfully
convicted. But, compounding withheld materials, prosecutory
misconduct, and documented flaws in the legal system, a poor defense
will guarantee nothing but a verdict of guilt at every level, even
when someone is innocent.
Despite the grave consequences of what frequently appears to be
willful legal negligence, Governor Bush insists on speeding up the
execution process and continues to deny that errors in the system
occur.
In the wake of the recent exoneration of Juan Melendez, and the
growing awareness that there exists a high probability that dozens
more innocent men and women are imprisoned wrongly on Death Row, every claim of innocence needs to be carefully
investigated.
When one inmate is released for every two who are
executed, making Florida lead the nation in wrongful convictions,
every precaution must be taken to insure that an innocent man does not
die at the State's hands.
Let Amos King not be a case resembling Frank Lee Smith's, where eleven
months after his death, DNA testing finally proves what was declared
all along--his innocence.
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TO: kaylee1@charter.net Subject: Re: MTWT: ANOTHER FLORIDA INNOCENT? Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 21:01:16 -0500 (EST) Cc: afua@woh.rr.com, denmark@online.no, RobertAPauley@aol.com
Ms Kay Lee:
The case of Amos King and that of Charles Alston have the missing or
undone DNA in common. Alston was commuted by a pro-death penalty
governor who understands the clemency process, and he had highly
competent lawyers fighting ON HIS BEHALF.
The CCRC Middle is loaded with lawyers dedicated to go through the
motions while perfecting no substantive appeals. So eager is Goon Jeb
to execute, and so intellectually constipated is this man, that he
cannot see that by allowing a plausibly innocent man to be put to
death, he is thwarting the very justice he is sworn to uphold.
The execution of an innocent man is an obscene anathema to both God
and Man. With the death penalty, if there is ANY -- and I mean ANY -- possibility
that the inmate is innocent, as Mr. King claims, the state MUST allow
him to prove it, or face the charge of injustice. There will already
be a heavy reckoning for Goon Bush and his crew, and he is too stupid
to realize that executions are bad, especially if there is ANY doubt
of guilt. He WILL be held to account-- here or THERE on the last day.
Mike Easley has taken executive clemency seriously. Although it
appears that he will not declare a moratorium as Governor Ryan did, he
is aware of the flaws in the state system, and is grappling over
commutations. While he cannot be considered perfect, he is going in
the right direction. Goon Bush should follow his example.
Dear Kay, I hope all is well with you. Still
waiting results on the DNA testing. Results expected daily now.
Trial Judge Susan Schaeffer has already said she'll ignore almost any possible results. My work is still cut out for me. Take care as we keep up the good work.
Peace, Amos.
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FLORIDA
TODAY,
February 25, 2003
YOU WILL
ALL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR A MURDER
The loud smell of bleach, the sound of floors being buffed, a tractor mowing the grass outside… All of these activities are to spruce up Florida State Prison for yet another tidy execution. Mine.
Yesterday my attorney filed a motion in the Federal Court that was denied. It was based on evidence the state concealed for over 25 years, despite my repeated requests for such evidence. This evidence
acquits me of murder and reveals perjury by the state witnesses and misconductby the state. It shows the infamous former medical examiner, Dr. Joan Wood, gave the time of death of the victim as 2:00 am, acquitting me of murder.
It points further to perjury by James McDonough,
himself a suspect. Besides being powerful evidence of my innocence, it shows
that both my trials were grossly unfair as well, as over 25 years of my
appeals were fraudulent due to the state's behavior. It also shows my alibi is valid.
Yet, Governor Bush is pressing on with my execution while once again the state makes a mockery of the capital trial and litigation process. Why not? Only the defendants and our lawyers are punished for minor abuses. The execution, the murder of me, an innocent man, cannot be clearer, nor can justice be more blatant.
I will not let this injustice die. Never.
Amos King
Florida State Prison
Death Watch
February 25, 2003
[Times photo: Kinfay Moroti]
"It's time to go," says Florida State Prison assistant warden Allen Clark, left, to death row inmate Amos King on Tuesday.
King, on last day, prepared to die
Amos Lee King Jr., facing execution today, still maintains his innocence
in the death of Natalie Brady.
STARKE -- With 30 hours to live and a watch ticking on his wrist, Amos
Lee King Jr. said what he has always said, again and again for 26 years.
"Did you kill Natalie Brady?" a reporter shouted at him Tuesday.
"No," King said softly in his last interview. "I did not."
He has been here before, facing reporters and cameras in what should be
his last full day alive.
Sentenced to die in 1977 for the killing of an elderly Tarpon Springs
widow, King has avoided execution six times. He faces another execution date
at 6 p.m. today. This time, after courts rejected a number of appeals Sunday,
King said he is prepared -- as much as he ever can be -- to die by lethal
injection.
"To the victim's family," he said, "I'm sorry about all this, and that
we have to be here."
King, 48, said he had written those family members a letter saying he
did not kill Mrs. Brady, knowing they did not want to hear it.
"They need to know the truth," he said.
King, wearing an orange prison shirt, was shackled at the wrists and
ankles and flanked by guards. He did not stutter, as he does when he is
nervous. He said he was not afraid.
He has had a long time to reflect on his life and prepare for his death.
When Mrs. Brady was killed, King said, he was 22 and already tired of
jail. He grew up in a large but troubled family, attended Largo Middle School
and Pinellas Park High School. He discovered drugs early.
"I was just a hood," King said.
He ended up at a minimum-security work release center in Tarpon Springs,
serving four years for stealing a shotgun. He said he was trying to repair his
life in anticipation of his release.
"I had become exhausted with the person I had been," he said. "I was
trying to turn it all around ... I just wanted to lay low and go straight for
a change."
On March 17, 1977, the sweet woman everyone called "Tillie" was found
raped, stabbed, beaten and choked inside her burning home.
About the time ambulances arrived at her house, King was discovered
missing from his bed. He later stabbed prison guard James McDonough 15 times.
The guard said he found King outside the prison in bloody pants. King says his
pants were not bloody, and that the guard attacked him first. The pants never
have been found.
Clinging to his innocence keeps him going, King said. He reads, studies
law, writes letters. More than two decades on death row have made him smarter,
more mature and more stable, he said.
"I'm exhausted from doing time, wasting life," he said. "I want to do
anything positive, anything to call my own shots."
He stays involved in the intricacies of his case -- the motions and
appeals that have made him the longest-serving death row inmate from Pinellas
County. Late last week, he stayed up all night writing a motion to the Florida
Supreme Court, using formal legal language and an oversized, almost childish
handwriting.
The state Supreme Court denied his motion Monday, along with several
others filed by his attorney. He went back Tuesday to the 11th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in Atlanta.
He will spend several hours meditating and writing. He has requested
Thai food for his last meal. It's a ritual he knows well. He already has eaten
his last meal twice.
"You're going whether you're ready or not," he said. "Some guys go
quietly, and some go kicking and screaming, but you're going."
When it was time for the interview to end, the assistant warden nudged
him from his chair. He said, "Thank you," and nodded politely with his
shackled hands folded in front of him. He walked out with a guard on each arm,
taking short steps down a long corridor lined with guards in every doorway,
back toward his cell next to the death chamber. He was followed by the sound
of gates slamming.
The murder of Amos King was carried out on schedule... .
No last-second reprieve this time Amos King was executed tonight for the 1977 rape and murder of an elderly Tarpon Springs woman. His last-minute appeals were denied, so, on his sixth scheduled execution date, he received a lethal injection.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Associated Press
2/26/03 7:01 PM
STARKE, Fla. (AP) -- Death row inmate Amos King, who had sought exoneration
through DNA evidence that proved inconclusive, was executed by lethal
injection Wednesday for the murder of a 68-year-old woman in her home 26 years ago.
His insistence that DNA testing could clear him of raping and killing Natalie Brady led Gov. Jeb Bush to issue a stay 90 minutes before King was to
be executed Dec. 2. Bush lifted the stay this month after the tests yielded no new evidence.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta and the U.S. Supreme Court
rejected appeals from King in the hours before the execution...
"I am not confessing to anything I did not do," King said in an interview,
adding that he had sent a letter to Brady's family explaining his innocence...
Debra Buchanan of the Department of Corrections said King was not
offered a special meal because he already had received two of them during
previous stays.
May God forgive the pettiness and
the nonchalance with which the State of Florida took the life of someone they never satisfactorily proved was guilty. I am grateful that He weighs our sins more wisely than we judge each other. Goodbye Amos. Kay Lee
MTWT
Gold Star Award to the caring
people of the
Florida Support E-Group, motivated and
moderated by the tirelessly dynamic
Sissel of Denmark. The only motive they
hold for expending this tremendous energy is their righteous quality of love
for man and life, truth and justice.
