Killing the Illusion of Justice

To understand the inequality and injustice of the death penalty, we don’t need to look further than the case of Gregory Wilson, who is scheduled to die next week in Kentucky.

Wilson mostly represented himself at trial, because his lawyer -- whose business card listed his address at a bar -- failed to show up on many days. Wilson’s co-defendant, who testified that she helped him commit a robbery and murder, was shuttled down the hallway after court each day to have sex with a judge. The list goes on, but somehow appeals courts have allowed Wilson’s conviction to stand; he is set to be killed by the state (with its dwindling supply of drugs) on September 16.

If Kentucky allows Wilson to be executed next week, with him will perish any illusion of a system of safeguards to ensure justice before we carry out the ultimate punishment.

Please take a moment to read Andrew Wolfson’s excellent article on the case in the Louisville Courier-Journal, and then join me in calling on Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear to commute Wilson’s sentence to life.

If Wilson weren’t one week from the death chamber, I would call the details of his trial laughable. He hired his “semi-retired” lawyer after a judge spent a year begging anyone who’d listen to take on the case for the measly $2,500 flat fee Kentucky was willing to pay at the time. Wilson and his part-time attorney failed to question key witnesses during trial (Wilson once stood up and said “I don’t know how to question.”). Wilson gave his own closing argument, which took a page and a half to transcribe. The prosecutor’s argument took 54 pages.

Judge after judge has denied his appeals, with a federal 6th Circuit judge writing in 2008: “Indigent defendants have a right to counsel, but not the right to counsel of their choice.” A state judge heard arguments yesterday in a case brought by Wilson and two other prisoners arguing that Kentucky lacks proper procedures for determining whether a prisoner is competent enough to be killed. Wilson has argued that he has mental deficiencies.

Now Wilson is a model prisoner, counseling others against resorting to violence and devout in his religious faith. A minister who visits him regularly told the Courier-Journal that Wilson “is very repentant and a sweet spirit. If there was ever the genuine article, he is it.”

This isn’t about guilt or innocence. It’s about a fair trial and equal justice. Would you trust your life to a trial like Wilson’s? What message does Kentucky send by using its last drips of deadly sodium thiopental to execute a man who never got his day in court?

Urge Gov. Beshear to commute Wilson’s sentence today.

Image Credit: xJasonRogersx