Death penalty opponents call for California moratorium

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- About 200 death penalty opponents led by actor Mike Farrell ("MASH", "Providence") marched to the state Capitol Thursday to deliver more than 165,000 signatures calling for a moratorium on executions in California.

They said the state should stop at least until its legal process is revised to eliminate any fatal flaws similar to those that caused Illinois' governor to commute all his state's death sentences before he left office in January.

"This is a system that entraps the innocent," along with those who are more vulnerable because their race, poverty or mental condition, said Farrell, president of Death Penalty Focus in San Francisco. "The system is failing us." He was joined by actor James Cromwell, who won a best supporting actor Oscar in 1995 for his role as the farmer in "Babe."

Farrell cited three instances where formerly condemned California inmates were exonerated because the convictions that led to their death sentences were eventually overturned.

However, an Associated Press review published Wednesday found there are questions whether the individuals most frequently cited by death penalty opponents are actually innocent of any involvement in the crimes, unlike the case with several Illinois convicts who were eventually cleared.

Support for a moratorium includes several key state lawmakers, including Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who chairs the Assembly's Public Safety Committee.

But Leno said it will be difficult to get a moratorium approved by state lawmakers or Gov. Gray Davis, who maintains California's system is free of most of the flaws that led to an epidemic of problems in Illinois.

Leno called the petitions presented Thursday "a very significant first step," but said a moratorium is unlikely until opponents can prove that the death penalty is indeed what he termed "a lethal lottery."

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On the Net:

www.californiamoratorium.org

www.cjlf.org