The Washington Peace Letter is published monthly for the social justice community of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It's purpose is to support local, national and international struggles against oppression. It seeks to present a radical analysis of current events, covering information not readily available in the corporate media.

Opponents of the death penalty were dismayed by the haste with which the recently convened Supreme Court denied the final appeal of Maryland death row inmate Tyrone X Gilliam. Within hours of the denial, Circuit Judge John F. Fader, who originally sentenced Gilliam to death, signed Tyrone Gilliam’s death warrant. Tyrone’s execution is scheduled to take place during the week of November 16, 1998. Activists opposed to the death penalty are planning a series of events and demonstrations with the aim of building a mass movement to win a stay of execution for Tyrone, and put a stop to the use of the death penalty nationwide.

Racism Determines Penalty

Tyrone’s case illustrates many of the reasons why the death penalty must be abolished. Tyrone is not on death row because of the strength of the state’s case against him, nor is his sentence a result of the particular circumstances of the crime he is accused of. Instead, Tyrone is on death row because he is a young, poor, black man accused of killing a white woman in a state where these aspects of a case have proven to be determining factors in who gets the death penalty.
Tyrone did participate in the carjacking which resulted in the 1989 murder of Christine Doerfler, but denies pulling the trigger that killed Doerfler. The state’s case against him was built on a “confession” obtained while he was totally disoriented from drugs and a massive head wound sustained during a high-speed chase.

In addition to this confession, the State also relied upon the testimony of his two partners, one of whom received a deal from the prosecution, and both of whom now claim that Tyrone Gilliam was not the triggerman. Gilliam’s attorney at the time advised him to waive the right to a jury trial, and did not bother to interview two of the prosecution’s key witnesses. The defense also failed to present mitigating evidence of Tyrone’s history of suffering physical, emotional and sexual abuse. And while a federal district judge ruled that Gilliam had received ineffective assistance at the penalty phase of his trial and struck down his death sentence, this decision was later overruled.

The poor representation Gilliam received at trial is typical of most cases in which a defendant gets the death penalty. Nationally, over 90 percent of defendants charged with capital crimes are indigent, cannot afford to hire an experienced criminal defense attorney and thus are forced to rely upon inexperienced, underpaid court-appointed attorneys. The death penalty continues to be applied in an arbitrary manner, even as states are increasing the frequency with which they execute their citizens.

A Death Row Activist

As a member of The Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Tyrone Gilliam has become an articulate and compelling voice against the injustice and racism of the death penalty. In the event called “Live from Death Row,” Tyrone has spoken to audiences from Baltimore to Oakland, California, via speaker-phone from the SuperMax facility where he is being held. Facing the prospect of a mid-November execution, Tyrone is using every opportunity to be heard by audiences of current and potential activists against the death penalty. He is determined to clarify for audiences that the death penalty is not about justice, but is a political weapon. In a recent interview, he said, “[people] are executed because of the political aspirations of prosecutors and judges. They are executed for everything except the crime.”

Maryland: Not Yet Used to State Killing

Whereas some states, notably Texas and Virginia, have already begun to carry out executions at such as rate that they seem commonplace, the death penalty in Maryland continues to be the subject of intense debate. Parris Glendening became the first Maryland governor in 36 years to allow the state to execute an inmate against his will in July 1997, when he allowed Flint Gregory Hunt to be killed by lethal injection. The governor disappointed many religious and community leaders who had hoped that he would take seriously charges that Maryland’s death row shows a clear pattern of racism. Glendening’s own task force investigating racism in the state’s death penalty refused to recommend a moratorium, even while it admitted that racism remains “a matter of legitimate concern.” While the task force merely recommended further study of the issue, Glendening pressed ahead with the execution of Hunt. The Governor, whose web-site lists Hunt’s execution as an accomplishment, is not expected to grant clemency to Tyrone Gilliam.

Capital Punishment and Electoral Politics

The activities of death penalty opponents in Maryland and the District have revitalized the debate about the nature of Maryland’s death row, and with it the growing trend toward execution as the solution to social ills. While Glendening may have hoped to use Tyrone’s execution as evidence that he is as “tough on crime” as his opponent Ellen Sauerbrey, renewed questions about the racism of Maryland’s death row have proven embarrassing to his campaign. Glendening is actively seeking the support of African American voters, who make up one of his most important core constituencies. In the face of renewed anger and activism around the death penalty, Glendening can no longer assume that such voters will support him simply because they have no other choice.

In recent years, electoral politics has had a dampening effect on the efforts of activists who have hoped that support for the lesser evil in a two-party contest would somehow further their causes. Death penalty opponents have no reason to choose between the two pro-death candidates in the upcoming Maryland election. Only an active, outward-looking movement against the death penalty can build the kind of alternative we need. Confronted by a confident and committed abolitionist movement, both candidates will be answerable for a state death row in which twelve of the fourteen men on death row are black, and 70 percent of whom are convicted of crimes committed in Baltimore County, Baltimore City’s affluent, mostly white suburb. Neither candidate can rely on silence and acquiescence from death penalty opponents in Maryland and the Washington area.

Tyrone Gilliam and fellow inmate Kenny Collins will be speaking live from Death Row at events at Georgetown University, Oct. 28, University of MD, College Park, Oct. 29 and George Washington University on Oct. 30. Opponents of the death penalty will march from College Park to the home of Governor Parris Glendening at noon on Oct. 31. A mass march and demonstration is planned in Baltimore on Saturday, November 7 at noon at the SuperMax facility (401 E. Madison St.) where Tyrone and all other death row inmates are held.

Contact the Campaign to End the Death Penalty for more information and to get involved at (301) 587-1469 or by email at cedp_dc@hotmail.com.

Virginia Harabin and Michael Stark are members of the D.C. Campaign to End the Death Penalty, and the International Socialist Organization (ISO). The phone number for the ISO is (202) 232-1339. Also there is a Tyrone X Gilliam hotline at (410) 574-7775.

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