May 1998 Issue 3

Why a mentally ill man remains on death row

No one who knows Horace Kelly could claim he is sane, but that is exactly what a jury is being asked to say as this newsletter goes to print.

Horace Kelly is a 39-year-old man who has been on death row for 13 years. He is known to mutters to himself and does not answer questions logically. On his way to court the other day, he told his lawyer that the judge was about to decide whether he could join the Marines. Horace thinks death row is a vocational school - and that as soon as he gets his "certification," he can go home.

"I don t know anybody that deserves to be in here." These words were spoken by a man who sits on death row in Maryland. In a series of Washington, DC area panels, Tyrone X Gilliam - who may be killed in less than 60 days - spoke live via speaker phone to packed university auditoriums about what it is like to live in the shadow of death.

I am happy to report some new chapters of The Campaign to End the Death Penalty have sprung up in different areas across the country over the past several months.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights repeated its call for a global moratorium on executions following an April report which shows that the U.S. uses the death penalty in an arbitrary and racist way.

The author of the report, Bacre Waly Ndiaye, a Senegalese lawyer appointed by the commission to investigate extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions worldwide, wrote that "race, ethnic origin and economic status appear to be key determinants of who will, and who will not, receive a sentence of death" in the U.S.

Now that New York State is moving to push through its first death penalty case in 15 years, it is trying to silence a prominent critic of its efforts. Lawrence Hayes, an active participant in the Campaign to End the Death Penalty from its inception, was imprisoned for a minor parole violation in late April.

Hayes was a Black Panther in the late 1960s. He was framed for murder and sent to death row. Though his sentence was commuted after the Supreme Court suspended the use of the death penalty in the U.S. in 1972, he was still forced to spend over 20 years in prison.

My name is Zolo Agona Azania. I am an artist, painter and self-published writer, and I am currently confined on death row.

I am a (Warriorlistic) transluminary, incarcerated Competent-Man;
looking any which way my (Universal-Spiritual-Soul) can withstand.

To also help (strengthen and uplift) others with a sense of purpose and blessing-hand;
not asking nor seeking (gratification) for ones (obligations), in relating positive-demand.

Everyone should contribute as (individuals or collectively) and take a stand;
towards (re-establishing) a peaceful, loving, non-violent, caring; unified-land.

There's so-so many (innocent) children, women, and men, out there dying;