Spring 2001: Does Capital Punishment Have a Future? Transcripts Web Chat with Christopher Adams -- April 5, 2001 The views expressed in this document have not been approved by the House of Delegates or the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association, and accordingly, should not be construed as representing the policy of the American Bar Association, nor do they represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice or the ABA Standing Committee on Public Education. Christopher Adams is the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Death Penalty Resource Counsel for the Southern Center for Human Rights. Mr. Adams defends poor people accused of capital murder throughout the Southeastern United States. [Read Mr. Adams' bio.] Moderator: Students, we're here for a question-and-answer session with Christopher Adams of the Southern Center for Human Rights. Mr. Adams, are you ready to begin? Adams: Ready. Moderator: May we have a question from Fayetteville H.S. for Mr. Adams? Fayetteville High School: Are there many juveniles and mentally ill people who have been wrongfully convicted? [Fayetteville High School, Fayetteville, AK] Adams: Yes, the mentally ill are definitely at risk for being wrongfully convicted. Many of the problems associated with wrongful convictions are things like false confessions, cops focusing on people with records (folks who don't fit in), people who are unable to account for their whereabouts, prejudices, etc. The mentally ill are often caught up in all these categories. Unidentified School: How does your job relate to the death penalty? Adams: I defend death penalty cases in the South. I also consult daily with death penalty defense lawyers from around the country Tupelo High School: Should people who have broken the social contract be allowed any of the human rights given to them by the contract they broke? [Tupelo High School, Tupelo, MS] Adams: I didn't know Thomas Hobbes was reincarnated. Seriously, usually the question in death penalty cases is whether the jurors believe the person should die in prison of natural causes (life sentence) OR whether the state should kill them. To the extent the social contract is broken, no reward is being given to the convicted person. Fayetteville H.S.: If someone is wrongly accused, do they have any recourse, such as suing? Adams: Yes you can sue sometimes if wrongly convicted. Every state has different laws and some states don't allow you to recover from the state or limit the recovery. I assume you mean after the person has been released? Tupelo H.S.: In the cases you have dealt with are the defendants generally more of a certain race? And if so is this saying there are more negative mindsets to this race? And how do you think this can be changed? Adams: Most of the people prosecuted for the death penalty are minorities. A Dept of Justice study came out in the fall about the Federal Death Penalty (should be less racism in federal court than in state courts) and 75% of the people the government sought the death penalty against are minorities. The 25% consist of McVeigh, Terry Nichols, and a handful of others. Change? I believe every time we discuss it, it forces folks to confront the issue of racism and that this hopefully will bring change. Fayetteville H.S.: What precautions are taken to make sure no one is wrongfully convicted? Adams: The criminal justice system isn't doing much of anything to prevent wrongful convictions. Congress is about to pass a law allowing federal inmates to have mandatory DNA testing. The states continue with business as usual -- underfunded defense, shortening appeals, doing away with the historic right of federal habeas corpus. Folks act like there is no problem. That wrongful convictions are the price of doing business. I assume these politicians don't have family members in prison. Tupelo H.S.: How do they determine whether a person should get life in prison or the death penalty? Adams: Capital trials have 2 parts. The first part determines if the person is guilty of capital murder. The second part determines what the appropriate sentence is -- in almost all states that is either life without parole or death. Then the jurors are asked to decide. Tupelo H.S.: Of all of the cases that the Southern Center for Human Rights has been involved in, which do you feel has made the most impact on both the Center and society? Adams: Wow, good question, I am passing my keyboard to my office manager to respond. That is a great question. I immediately thought of the case of a man who was sentenced to die. In the center's investigation it was discovered that African American people had been under represented on the jury pool, intentionally. In a retrial he received a life sentence, had since graduated at the top of his class from a local college and while still in prison has become a source of support for many prisoners at that prison. Fayetteville H.S.: What inspired you to do this type of work? Moderator: Presque Isle isn't going to make it, it looks like. But they sent some questions. Here's one: What is your opinion of US execution of foreign nationals who commit crimes in the US, given that most European countries do not have the death penalty? (I think Fayetteville wants to know what inspired you to do your work, first.) Adams: Adams returns -- I started as a public defender and was hoping I'd like my job. After 2 weeks I was hooked -- everyone talks about how bad my clients are; I am the only person in the system who gets to find the good/the humanity of my clients. It's very affirming -- we all are better people than our worst acts. Adams: Presque Isle’s Question: It's barbaric. I think it's barbaric when we kill our own people, much less when we kill others. Foreign nationals, according to the Vienna Convention, are guaranteed the right to speak with their consulate before being interrogated. We violate this in every case, then use the statements at trial. We've executed foreign nationals in several states after admitting the treaty violation in the World Court. We don't care what the rest of the world thinks. It' s sad. Tupelo H.S.: I read about a case in Madison County where they used Dodge dealerships to house inmates. In these garages where the inmates were housed the conditions were very poor. There was no ventilation and the temperature would rise to over 100 degrees. Many got very nauseated and had heat strokes. There were over 400 men housed in a garage no cells, sometimes no light. Could this be considered cruel and unusual punishment, and what is considered necessary and basic and what can be considered infringing on human rights for the inmates? Adams: That is a case my office did. These people, many in for minor offenses, alimony, etc, were treated worse than cattle. Fortunately, the federal judge agreed and has ordered the conditions be improved. People in jail and prison are not on vacation; however, they should be treated with basic dignity. The prisons should be safe from abusive inmates and guards, medical care should be adequate; In short, we should let people do their time in a manner where they can come out of prison in one piece physically and emotionally. Adams: Guilty people then experience Fayetteville H.S.: Have you ever been called to represent someone who was guilty, and you knew it? If so, how did this make you feel? Adams: Guilty -- I have represented many guilty folks and I didn't usually feel bad at all. Rarely does a client tell you they are guilty up front -- you work the cases the same and look for holes in the prosecution’s cases. Most cases I've had involve my client being less than 100% truthful and the alleged victim being less than 100% truthful. That's probably human nature to spin everything to our self-serving interest. Cathedral High School: At what point can a lawyer be considered experienced enough to take on a capital case? [Cathedral High School, El Paso, Texas] Adams: Experience, it varies from state to state. Lots of states require 5 years felony trial experience for the defense. The prosecutor usually doesn’t have minimum requirements because they have to get elected - the assumption being that only qualified people get elected. Fayetteville H.S.: Thank you Mr. Adams, it is time for us to change classes. Tupelo H.S.: Do you have any contact with the Amnesty International group? Adams: Amnesty, we deal with Amnesty and many other moratorium and abolition groups -- Hands Off Cain, Moratorium Now, Citizens for a Federal Moratorium (you should check out their web site) etc… Hampden Academy: Do you oppose the use of capital punishment generally, or only the ways in which it is applied (for example with racial bias)? [Hampden Academy, Hampden, Maine] Adams: Both, the jurors I appear in front of all believe in the death penalty so I tailor my arguments to them -- my client in this particular case does not need to die. So I fight it as it is applied. Yet I've never seen a case where I thought we as a society are better off with a death verdict. Studies now show there is no deterrent effect, race is such a problem, people are proved innocent years down the road -- death has no place in our country CathedralHS2: If a defendant does not have the financial means to afford a defense lawyer, than who appoints one to him/her? How does this process work? What financial benefits do these lawyers receive? Adams: That's a big problem. Almost no capital defendant can afford lawyers for the case. The judge appoints his lawyers. There are some great, committed and compassionate people who take these cases. There are also hacks who are terrible - too friendly with the judge, who won't put up a fight. People have been executed when there lawyers were drunk in court, asleep during the trial, members of the Klan and the client was African American, lawyers called the client a "nigger and an animal." Yet, somehow the appeals courts said these cases were okay and people were killed. The quality of court appointed lawyers in many states is absolutely terrible. Guest97: How do you go about proving the existence of race based discrimination in a trial? Adams: Proving racial bias-- it's hard work -- you look at all the murders in a jurisdiction and find out how they were treated. Which ones pled to lessor charges and which didn't. You look at all the factors -- how does the prosecutor use his juror strikes, how often does he exclude minorities, women, etc. Also, if prosecutor has a role in juror foreperson selection, how does that play out. Basically you try to deconstruct his or her career and see what the patterns are. Often you find a pattern of racial bias. Once in a while you discover statements that they've made which have no business in the 21st century. Continue reading>> Spring 2001 Summit Home | Learning Links & Readings Student Activities| Participants | Transcripts National Online Youth Summit Home