vol. 56, no. 3
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Volume LVI
t 5:45 AM on the morning
ol Apa 21) the US.
Supreme Court issued an
extraordinary and unprecedented
order: "No further stays of Robert
Alton Harris's execution shall be
entered except upon order of this
court."
Witnesses were rushed back
into the gas chamber viewing area
by 6:02 AM. "We were on double-
time. There was no question that
there was an attempt to get this
done as soon as possible," said wit-
ness Michael Tuck, a Los Angeles
television reporter.
With a petition for a stay of
execution still pending before the
California Supreme Court, Robert
Harris was strapped into the gas
chamber shortly after 6:00 AM.
"When we called the California
Supreme Court to find out why
they had not notified the Warden
to stop the execution, we were told
it was already too late," said
ACLU-NC attorney Michael
Laurence, one of Harris's defense
counsel.
The cyanide pellets were
dropped at 6:05 AM. At 6:21 AM,
Robert Harris was pronounced
dead by a prison physician. The
State of California had succeeded in com-
mitting the first officially-sanctioned state
killing in 25 years.
As the New York Times stated in its
editorial the following day, "there was a
repugnant rush to kill."
The dawn killing of Robert Harris fol-
may - june 1992
California's Rush to Kill
lowed a night of dramatic attempts to pre-
vent the execution. Two lawsuits - one, a
habeas corpus petition concerning new.
evidence about Robert's brother's culpa-
bility in the murders, and the other, a civil
rights class action suit challenging the use
of the gas chamber as cruel and unusual
__ A Special Report on the Execution, Pages 4 5 __
Ata demonstration on San Francisco's Marina Green two days before the execution, death penalty
foes lay down with 502 tombstones, representing each person who has been executed by the state of
California since 1893. .
No. 3
Two stays in the gas chamber
suit - one issued at 10:15 PM by
ten Ninth Circuit judges and one
issued at 12:08 AM by one other
judge of the Ninth Circuit - were
granted to allow time for the full
appeals court to review the claim
that execution by gas is cruel and
unusual punishment.
At 3:00 AM, the U.S. Supreme
Court lifted both stays in the gas
chamber suit. Within the hour,
Robert Harris was strapped into the
gas chamber.
At 3:45 AM, Ninth Circuit
Court Judge Harry Pregerson
issued a one-day stay to allow
Harris's attorneys to file the gas
chamber suit as a habeas proceed-
ing. Laurence called the prison
frantically trying to reach officials
to let them know that a stay was
about to be issued. Judge
~ Pregerson contacted the prison and
found out that Robert Harris had
already been strapped into the gas
chamber. The Attorney General
kept Harris in the gas chamber
while he attempted to get the stay
of execution vacated by the U.S.
Supreme Court.
Jan Tiura At 4:01 AM, ~Harris was
unstrapped from the chair,
punishment - were argued throughout the removed from the gas chamber and taken
night. back to the holding cell.
A stay issued at 6:25 PM in the habeas
proceeding by a judge of the Ninth Circuit
was lifted by the U.S. Supreme Court at
11:20 PM at the request of Attorney
General Dan Lungren.
At 5:45, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted
Judge Pregerson's stay and issued its final
order. As Court of Appeals Judge John
Noonan wrote in the New York Times,
Continued on page 4
Rodney King Beating - The Verdict and the Aftermath
The Verdict
by Jean Field
n April 29, jurors in Simi Valley,
California acquitted four Los
Angeles police officers of brutally (c)
beating African American motorist
Rodney King. The videotaped incident
had come to symbolize racism and abuse
by law enforcement agencies around the
country, and the verdict dramatically
"underscored the need for renewed efforts
toward police reform.
"We were appalled and very troubled
that any jury could have found those offi-
cers not guilty after watching a videotape
that showed them viciously attacking this
man," said ACLU-NC Executive Director
Dorothy Ehrlich. "Justice clearly has not
been served."
The ACLU affiliates of Northern and
Southern California called on the U.S.
Department of Justice to criminally prose-
cute the Los Angeles Police Department
officers under the federal civil rights laws.
The Bay Area Coalition for Civil Rights
and organizations around the country also
demanded federal prosecution. In a tele-
vised announcement, President Bush
announced that an investigation by the
Justice Department, which apparently had
been dormant, was to resume.
The verdict - from a jury that
included no African Americans - drew
the country's attention to the type of
police abuse that plagues minority com-
munities in cities throughout the U.S. "We
need to channel the outrage from the
Rodney King beating verdict into legisla-
tive action,' said ACLU Police Practices
Project Director John Crew. "Making the
police department publicly and openly
accountable to the community it serves is
the best way to help prevent incidents like
the one in Los
Angeles."
As part of its
continuing effort
to help communi-
"We cannot allow the
suspension of civil
_ State of Emergency
fter the verdict was announced,
A shock and frustration drove indi-
viduals to the streets of cities
around the country. Sections of Los
Angeles erupted in violence, and stores in
Berkeley and San Francisco were dam-
aged. There were also numerous peaceful
demonstrations, from a rally at Glide
Memorial Church,
to nonviolent pro-
tests on the Bay
Bridge, freeways
and city intersec-
of ther ky liberties to become San `r,, Policiens
Gace ye Francisco's method of jee
ACLU has pub dealing with the _ the. violence. in
fille Hue 4 EMCRCISG Of JECCHOM Of arene a 8.
Manual, which expr EeuroSsSton. liberties for other
outlines strategies
and resources for individuals and organi-
zations. The ACLU also is. pushing hard
for the passage of a national police
accountability act (see sidebar).
Bills in Sacramento
Two bills now pending in the state
Legislature would establish more effective
police review procedures throughout
California. SB 1335, introduced by
Senator Art Torres (D-Los Angeles),
Continued on page 2
Californians.
Bay Area cities ordered curfews, and in
San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan and
Police Chief Richard Hongisto instituted
sweeping emergency police powers, which
were used to pre-empt peaceful demonstra-
tions as well as detain individuals sus-
pected of breaking the law. More than two
hours before the curfew took place May 1,
police officers swept through San
Francisco's' Mission District, arresting
over 400 people, many of whom were
neighborhood residents on their way home
for work or to the store. Due process was
suspended, and many of those arrested
were detained up to 32 hours at a down-
town pier and in Santa Rita jail.
"This was a clear violation of the right
to peacefully assemble, and sets a danger-
ous precedent for the future of free speech
in our city," said ACLU-NC. Executive
Director Dorothy Ehrlich at a special meet-
ing of the San Francisco Board of
Supervisors the following day.
"If someone yells `Fire' in a crowded
theater, you don't arrest everyone in the
theater," said Police Practices Project
Director John Crew. Ehrlich, Crew and
staff attorney Alan Schlosser attended the
meeting to urge the supervisors to end the
curfew and the State of Emergency. "We-
applaud the Board for their courageous
stand in suspending the emergency powers
and denouncing the police actions and the
civil liberties violations that had taken
place over the previous few days," said
Ehrlich.
ACLU Field Director Marcia Gallo
attended a similar session in Berkeley on
May 2, where City Council members also
voted in favor of lifting its curfew.
In Los Angeles, Mayor Tom Bradley
called in the National Guard as well as sol-
diers from the Army base at Fort Ord.
- In an emergency session on May 1, the
state Legislature passed special legislation
that allowed people detained for felonies
Continued on page 2
aclu news
may - june 1992
Alameda Police Officer Cannot
Silence Victim of Abuse
rights plaintiffs from retaliatory law-
suits by the police, the California
Court of Appeal upheld a summary judg-
ment against an Alameda police officer
who brought charges of malicious prosecu-
tion against a man who sued him for police
brutality. The March 18 ruling bars a
police officer from bringing a malicious
prosecution action against a civil rights
plaintiff when the underlying litigation has
been settled.
"The court's decision is an important
I n an important ruling protecting civil
victory in the fight against police abuse,"
said ACLU-NC staff attorney Ann Brick,
who argued the case Villa v. Cole et al.
before the appellate court on March 11.
"The ruling in this case protects victims of
police brutality who settle their claims
from being victimized again by being sued
for malicious Prosecution vindictive
police officers."
In July 1987, 2aeoad A. Seeterlin
and his attorney Rufus Cole brought a
police brutality lawsuit against the City of -
- Alameda and two police officers. The suit
State of Emergency ae
Continued from page |
in the aftermath of the King verdict to be
held for up to seven working days before
arraignment. Normally, an arrestee can be
`held for only 48 hours.
With or without its emergency powers,
the San Francisco police department was
bent on stopping all peaceful protests. On
May 8, SFPD police officers broke up a
peaceful demonstration and arrested more
than 500 protesters who were marching to
Duboce Park. Again, many people in the
Market and Duboce street area were
arrested as they left restaurants and stores
or attempted to return home. "It appears
that the police department has abandonded
its own crowd control policies that have
been very effective over the past few
years. It's a dangerous situation, not only
for the First Amendment but for public
safety,' said Crew, who witnessed the
police sweep.
At a packed Board of Supervisors
meeting on May 11, hundreds of people
- many of whom had been arrested and
detained - spoke out against the police
action. Supervisor Jim Gonzalez said of
the mass arrests, "It's a new policy. It's.a
policy of mass arrests whenever the chief
says so, and that's wrong."
Police Chief Richard Hongisto claimed
the arrests were legal and called for a halt
to demonstrations. "This is not a time to
be demonstrating," Hongisto said.
"The courts have consistently recog-
nized that imposing delays in the exercise
of First Amendment, even for a day, is
unacceptable," said Schlosser. "The First
Amendment requires public officials - no
matter what their personalities or political
leanings - to not only permit but protect
the rights of all of us to express our views,
when we feel the need to."
The ACLU switchboard responded to
scores of calls from individuals who had
been detained during the police actions.
Details of arrest procedures and civil liber-
ties violations were recorded, and individ-
_ uals who needed legal representation were
referred to the National Lawyers' Guild.
On May 12, Kim Corsaro, the pub-
lisher of the Bay Times, an lesbiangay
newsweekly in San Francisco announced
that over two thousand copies of the May
7 edition had been removed from news-
racks around the city. The edition had an
uncomplimentary photo collage of Police
Chief Hongisto on the front cover with the
headline "Dick's Cool New Tool: Martial
Law." When it was discovered that it was
three police officers who did the removal
- perhaps at the behest of the Chief -
civil libertarians saw it as a further assault
on the First Amendment.
At its May 14 meeting, the ACLU-NC
Board of Directors passed a resolution
calling for the immediate resignation of
Police Chief Hongisto based on his uncon-
stitutional actions against protests in San
Francisco and calling on the city to hold a
search for a new police chief who would
respect the Constitution.
The Police Commission was also
meeting on the night of May 14, to hold a
special hearing on Chief Hongisto's role
in the theft of the Bay Times. At 3:00 AM
the next morning, they announced that
they had fired Chief Hongisto.
"The firing of Richard Hongisto as
chief is certainly not the end of it," said
Crew. "The ACLU-NC has been
extremely distressed at the two-week fron-
tal assault on the First Amendment in San
Francisco. There are simply too many
unanswered questions that remain that
must be publicly and openly addressed if
the public is to be assured that these kinds
of police actions will never be tolerated
again.'
Some of those issues were addressed
on May 19 in a special hearing called by
Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg, Chair of
the City Services Committee. "I called for
a probe into police procedures used on
May 8 and May | because of the numer-
ous complaints voiced by those who felt
they had been arrested without reason, "
said Achtenberg.
In addition, the ACLU-NC is prepar-
ing a special report on the civil liberties
abuses that took place during the Rodney
King protests. "We cannot allow the sus-
pension of civil liberties to become San
Francisco's method of dealing with the
exercise of freedom of expression," said
Crew.
Stop Police Abuse
Support the Police Accountability Act
crucial bill now pending in
A Congress --H.R. 2972 - targets
police departments that have a pat-
tern and practice of misconduct. The bill
would clarify the Justice Department's
authority to bring civil action to eliminate
abusive police practices. H.R. 2972 would
also empower private citizens to bring
civil action by giving them legal standing
and permitting courts to grant the prevail-
ing plaintiff reasonable attorney's fees and
costs.
In addition, the legislation would pro-
vide criminal penalties whenever a law
enforcement officer subjects any person to
force exceeding that which is reasonably
necessary to carry out a law enforcement
duty.
So far, the only northern California
Representative to sponsor the Police
Accountability Act is Don Edwards, the
author of the bill. Coming on the heels of
the verdict in the police beating of Rodney
King, this one piece of legislation would
provide federal remedies in cases of police
brutality. Every Northern California
Representative should be a co-sponsor of
H.R. 2972.
Private citizens need this legislation so
that they can have legal standing to bring
civil action against the police.
Please write your Representative
TODAY.
We must stop the abuse. The address
for your Representative is:
The Honorable ;
U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington, DC 20515.
charged the officers with assault and bat-
tery, false arrest and violation of
Seeterlin's civil rights during an alterca-
tion that resulted when one of the officers,
Robert R. Villa, attempted to give a
sobriety test to the driver of a car in which
Seeterlin was riding.
Although that suit was settled, Officer
Villa turned around and filed a malicious
prosecution suit in Alameda Superior
Court against Seeterlin and his attorney.
Seeterlin turned to the ACLU-NC for rep-
_ resentation. Seeterlin was represented by
ACLU-NC staff attorneys Brick and
Edward Chen and cooperating attorneys
from the law firm of Howard, Rice,
Nemerovski, Canady, Robertson and Falk.
When Villa's suit was dismissed by the
superior court, he appealed the judgment.
In the unanimous March 18 ruling
upholding the Superior Court judgment,
Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Clinton
White wrote that the police officer's
charge of malicious prosecution has a "ten-
dency to impose a "chilling effect' on the
willingness of ordinary citizens either to
report criminal conduct or to bring poten-
tially valid civil claims to court."
"The filing of malicious prosecution
actions by police officers accused of bru-
tality is a very troubling trend," said Chen.
"Most such suits are thrown out by the
courts as lacking merit, but they neverthe-
less may have their intended effect, deter-
`ring people with legitimate claims from
seeking redress for police misconduct."
This courtroom victory is especially
important as the battle to make police offi-
cers and law' enforcement agencies
accountable for their actions heats up in the
California and: federal legislatures (see
articles this page).
The Verdict ...
Continued from page 1
would make it easier for the a noney
General's office to criminally prosecute
police officers. SB 1949, introduced by
Senator Bill Greene (D-Los Angeles),
would repeal a 1982 law allowing police
officers to file defamation suits against
individuals who -have accused them of
misconduct. The targeted statute has a
chilling effect on the ability of individuals
to speak out against brutality and police
abuse, and stifles the First Amendment
right to complain to the government with-
out fear of reprisal.
"The public outcry surrounding the
Rodney King verdict should have given
these bills added momentum," said Marga-
ret Pefia, ACLU Legislative Director. "But
law enforcement agencies will not surren-
der their closed-door policies easily."
There also is a dangerous proposal cur-
rently in the Legislature which would give
police officers unprecedented immunity
from public scrutiny. AB 2067, sponsored
by Assemblyman Richard Floyd (R-
Gardena), is called the "rogue cop" bill
because it enforces the code of silence in
police departments around the state.
"The rogue cop bill must be defeated,"
said Crew. "Police departments must
become open to the communities they
serve, and not remain unaccountable. Bills
like AB 2067 will ensure that the next
Rodney King incident won't even make it
to the courtroom."
In San Francisco, several Supervisors
are urging the Mayor and Board of
Supervisors to include in the
Memorandum of Understanding with the
Police Department provisions guarantee-
ing openness in the Office of Citizen
Complaints process.
The verdict in the Rodney King beat-
ing case "makes me more determined than
ever to safeguard and strengthen our
police review policies and to assure that a
miscarriage of this dimension will never
occur in our city," said Supervisor Terence
Hallinan.
Credit:
Sponsored by:
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RAIDS, RIGHTS and RECENT LITIGATION
A seminar for attorneys who will assist victims of INS abuse.
THURSDAY, MAY 28
FROM 4-6 PM
GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY, ROOM 304
536 MISSION STREET, SAN FRANCISCO
SPEAKERS
ALAN SCHLOSSER
ACLU-NC staff attorney and counsel on the International Molders case will discuss
the rights of immigrants and employers under recent court settlements and federal
remedies against INS abuse.
SUSAN LYDON
staff attorney of the ILRC will discussconstitutional and statutory rights of
immigrants, the work of the Raids Response Network and administrative remedies.
Two credits applicable toward fulfilling California Continuing
Legal Education requirements.
The Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the ACLU-NC and Golden
contact Raids Seminar, ILRC, 1663 Mission Street, #602, San
Francisco, CA 94103. FAX: 415/255-9792.
Free to attorneys willing to volunteer time to advising victims of
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aclu news
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Published by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California
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aclu news
may - june 1992 3
Claudio Paintings Return
to Federal Building
n a victory against censor-
I ship, two paintings by Chico
artist Dayton Claudio -
which had been removed at the
behest of government bureaucrats
- were hung once again in the
lobby of the Phillip Burton
Federal Building in San Francisco
after protests from the ACLU.
Although Claudio had a per
mit to display his art, the can
vases were removed from the
lobby March 2, only an hour after
being hung. The General Services
Administration, which oversees
the Federal Building, objected to
the works. One of the paintings,
"Madonna", depicts a partially
nude woman; the other, entitled
"JFK," portrays an _ abstract
American flag and a drawing of
the slain president.
Claudio, an artist and sculptor
who teaches at Butte Community
College in Chico, turned to
California Lawyers for the Arts
(CAL) and the ACLU-NC for
help. Attorneys protested the
move by the GSA, which has
been under fire for similar acts of
censorship in federal buildings in
Sacramento and Los Angeles.
After discussions with ACLU-NC
nd CAL cooperating attorney
Karl Olson, the GSA reversed its
decision.
It's a great victory for anti-
censorship and an important victory for
artists. It sends a message that we can do
artistic work for public buildings without
feeling we have to censor ourselves," said
Claudio. "I was happy to find out that
there are support groups out there. That's
pretty important when you're going up
against the government."
"Censorship of artwork should have
gone out with the Edsel. It's the kind of
thing you might expect in Baghdad, but
not in Baghdad-by-the-Bay," said Olson,
who is a partner at Cooper, White and
Cooper and worked on Claudio's case with
his associate Catherine S. Kanter and
ACLU-NC staff attorney Ann Brick.
Olson added that Claudio's works were
not in fact obscene under the U.S.
Supreme Court's guidelines nor under any
common definition of the word. "The fed-
eral government shouldn't spend time or
taxpayers' money policing art content," he
said.
On March 16, Claudio re-opened the
exhibit of his paintings "Madonna" and
"JFK" at a press conference at the Federal
Building as a public display of a victory
Artist Dayton Claudio and painting "Madonna" at
the Federal Building in San Francisco.
Union Maid Photos
against government censorship. The paint-
ings were on display until April 1.
"Government censorship in any form is
a matter of grave concern in a free and
democratic society," said ACLU-NC staff
attorney Ann Brick. "It is particularly
shocking that it should be attempted here,
at the Federal Building and US.
Courthouse - a building that is the very
embodiment of the federal government.
We are pleased that the GSA has recog-
nized that censorship cannot be tolerated,"
Brick added.
The national ACLU Arts Censorship
Project, based in New York and directed
by Marjorie Heins, offered additional
advice on this issue. The Project was
created in 1991 to combat mounting
threats to artistic freedom from both gov-
ernment and private pressure groups. The
Project engages in precedent-setting First
Amendment litigation and works on
national campaigns and with the ACLU
National Washington Office on federal
legislative issues. The Project offers legal
assistance in censorship cases to individual
artists and organizations.
Governor's Proposed -
Welfare Cuts Threaten
Civil Liberties
by Rita Egri
ACLU Legislative Assistant
Governor Pete Wilson's attempts to
slash welfare payments to poor children
and families continues in the Legislature
and at the polls despite the failure of his
initial budget proposal last month.
Last year, the state of California cut
AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent
Children) grants by 4.4%, and reduced
funding for other: social services vital to
low-income people who are homeless or at
risk of becoming homeless. Early this
year, Wilson proposed reducing aid to
needy children by 25% and raising the cost
of health care for seniors and the disabled.
His budget would have made Medi-Cal too
expensive for thousands of disabled and
older Californians, and denied special aid
for pregnant women.
The Governor's plan seriously restricts the
civil liberties of AFDC recipients. Teen
parents would be forced to live with their
guardians in order to receive AFDC, and
no additional support would be provided
for any children conceived or born while a
family received AFDC.
"These budget cuts would deny low-
income people access to the health care
and family planning services that. could
help them reduce their need for social ser-
vices. It's a Catch-22 situation that could
have tragic consequences for an entire gen-
eration of Californians,' said Margaret
Pefia, ACLU Legislative Director.
Wilson's bill also contained a contro-
versial residency requirement that would
pay newcomers only the amount they
would have received in their home state.
"This interferes with a person's right to
Continued on page 6
The Changing Struggle
For Civil Rights In California
THE RACISM OF "LAW AND ORDER"
WILSON'S WELFARE INITIATIVE
THE RIGHT TO DIE
ATTACKS ON IMMIGRANTS and THE POOR
EDUCATION "CHOICE"
Develop a Northern California Strategy to:
ENSURE REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AFTER CASEY
RESTRUCTURE THE DEBATE OVER THE DEATH PENALTY
COMBAT POLICE MISCONDUCT
Decipher the Nedia's Role in Affecting Public Opinion
Analyze the Successful Passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act
Brainstorm with ACLU Chapter Members on How To:
BUILD MORE EFFECTIVE CHAPTERS
LOBBY AND INFLUENCE THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
OUTREACH TO NEW MEMBERS AND DIVERSIFY THE MEMBERSHIP
' RAISE AND SPEND CHAPTER FUNDS
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aclu news
may - june 1992
Strong Plea for Clemency
Fell on Deaf Ears
n April 15, constricted by a one-
hour time limit set by Governor
Pete Wilson, attorney Howard
Friedman, Robert's sister Brenda Harris
and three leading mental health profes-
sionals made a powerful plea for the
Governor to "spare the life of Robert
Harris and allow him to spend it in
prison."
Friedman, a partner in the Los Angeles
law firm of Loeb and Loeb, said at a
Sacramento press conference following
the clemency hearing, "Robert Harris
finds himself in a predicament certainly
without parallel among modern democra-
cies. He has indisputable medical and doc-
umentary proof of mental disabilities and
childhood victimization that ordinarily
would compel an impartial jury to impose
a sentence less than death, yet no court is
willing even to consider such evidence."
The plea for clemency was based on
four principal arguments: expert testimony
of mental health professionals that Harris
suffers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome; evi-
dence of severe child abuse and organic
brain damage; Robert Harris's long-
standing remorse for the crimes; and the
assurances of veteran corrections profes-
sionals that the public could be protected
by confining him to prison for life without
possibility of parole.
In addition to the personal presenta-
tions, attorney Friedman compiled for the
Governor a 4-volume clemency appeal,
with over 2,000 pages of documentation
from medical professionals, law enforce-
ment officials, and hospital and prison
records.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome -
"The preeminent authorities in the
fields of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, child
abuse and organic brain damage urge you
to consider that Robert Harris's moral and
legal culpability was profoundly affected
by unspeakable parental torture and
neglect that not only haunted his life, but
physically touched it every day through
the effects of the deformation of and dam-
age to his developing brain," Friedman
told the Governor. "These health care pro-
fessionals explain how the lifelong impair-
ments inflicted upon Robert when he was
a helpless child left him unable to be in
control and fully responsible for his con-
duct as an adult," Friedman said.
"Every qualified expert with whom we
consulted found the information to be
credible and persuasive. No one ques-
tioned the completeness and reliability of
by FAS and severe child'
unaware of any qualified expe
putes these findings, and
recognized leaditig, a
tionally sup them,"
tion is partic important to the ques-
tion of clemen se neither the jury
nor any court ever considered it. Robert
Harris was born almost 20 years before the
medical profession recognized the perma-
nent debilitating effects of prenatal expo-
sure to alcohol on the developing fetus.
"When Robert was a newborn and a child,
no information existed to alert his teachers
_ and doctors that the pattern of behavioral
_ problems and physical anomalies they
observed was linked to a birth defect,"
explained Friedman. -
Dr. Jones, Professor of Pediatrics and
Chief of the Division of Dysmorphology
and Teratology at U.C. San Diego, Dr.
Mark Mills, Director of the Program of
Psychiatry and the Law at UCLA, and
Kathleen West, Director of the SHIELDS
program in Los Angeles which treats chil-
dren who are born with FAS, also spoke at
the clemency hearing and at the press con-
ference.
Robert's sister Brenda said at the press
Abolitionists led by the Grim Reaper and Lady Justice march against the death
penalty.
Jan Tiura
conference, "I asked Governor Wilson to
spare my brother because we love Robbie
and we don't want him to die. He means
everything to us. He's where he won't hurt
anybody."
Prison officials
Citing letters from Raymond K.
Procunier, former Director of the
California Department of Corrections and
Len Chastain, a 34-year veteran of the
Department, Friedman noted that prison
staff could successfully handle Harris in a
structured setting without threatening oth-
ers. Both corrections professionals, strong
supporters of the death penalty in general,
also agreed that the previously undetected
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome warranted an
executive grant of clemency for Harris;
Remorse
`If Robert Harris is permitted to liv
he will live daily with the
anguish he feels for th S
overnor Wilson, thank you
G for your attention. What you
are about to see are appeals
from some of the state's and the nation's
leading experts in law and medicine urging
you to grant clemency to Robert Harris."
With these words, actor and director Mike
Farrell introduced a 23-minute video plea
for clemency. "All agree," Farrell noted,
"that California's best interests are served
by imposing a sentence of life imprison-
ment without possibility of parole in Mr.
Harris's case."
Defense team member David Hinkley,
who made the video before it was known
if the Governor would hold a clemency
hearing, said that the video was produced
"to present the most compelling, straight-
forward plea for clemency to the
Governor. The issues discussed are Fetal
Alcohol Syndrome, brain damage stem-
ming from severe child abuse, and the
legal reasons why these are factors in con-
sideration of clemency."
After the tape was submitted to the
Governor, the ACLU-NC sent the video
on March 30 via a satellite transmission to
50 TV stations and network bureaus in
California and distributed it widely`to the
print and radio media. "We also wanted
| the public to be aware of the crucial issues
at stake - that the state of California was
Reverend Leon Harris, a Baptist minister,
attested to Robert Harris's remorse for his
crimes. Reverend Smith, emphasizing that
prisoners rarely weep in public because
is considered a sign of weakn
| described how in 1985 Robert broke down -
and wept openly during a prison BADE
class saying, "I wish I knew
could forgive someone like me,"
bert Harris really is. [Had the jury
n] the truth about Robert Harris's life
d the legacy of torture and impairments
he has carried with him, no citizen, no par-
ent, no member of our society would feel
the need now to take his life."
"Robert Harris should not die, and his
brothers and sisters should not be made to
leo Plea for Clemency
preparing to execute an individual who
suffered irreversible brain damage," said
ACLU-NC Executive Director Dorothy
Ehrlich.
Narrated by Farrell, the video included'
interviews with Dr. Kenneth Lyons Jones,
Professor of Pediatrics and Chief of the
Division of
_Dysmorphology and
Teratology at the University of California
at San Diego and Dr. Ann P. Streissguth,
Director of the Fetal Alcohol and Drug
Unit in the Department of Psychology and
Psychiatry at the University of
Washington. Both Jones and Streissguth,
pioneers and leading national experts in
the scientific study of Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome, conclude there is no question
that Harris suffered from FAS and
describe its devastating effects on his
development and subsequent adult behav-
ior.
Dr. Spencer Eth, a professor at the
UCLA School of. Medicine and Acting
Chief of Psychiatry at the West Los
Angeles Veterans Hospital, describes the
long-term effects of child brutalization and
explains why, in this case, they are rele-
vant to whether clemency is appropriate
for an adult survivor of such victimization.
Justice Frank Newman, retired Associate
Justice of the California Supreme Court,
Continued on page and
endure the pain of his death, because of
crimes that were so clearly bound up in his
own victimization," Friedman concluded.
On April 16, at a 6 PM news confer-
ence, Governor Wilson stated, "As great is
my compassion for Robert Harris the
child, I cannot excuse or forgive the
choice made by Robert Harris the man.
Clemency is denied."
In a letter to the Governor the follow-
_ing day, attorney Friedman urged him
reconsider his decision. "I simply cannot
accept the fact that you have deliberately
ignored the compelling medical evidence
we presented and the conclusions which
flow inescapably from that evidence.
"Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, the leading
wholly-preventable cause of mental retar-
dation in our nation today, is no less dey-
astating to an adult than it is to a child,"
Friedman reiterated. "Your decision
ignores the very real and powerful evi-
dence which establishes, without contra-
diction, that by every measurement tool
we have available to us - save chronolog-
ical age and physical stature - Robert
Harris today is a child."
Californ
afte
resumed
" five years by killing a
The use of the gas chamber, an
cruciatingly painful and unneces-
sarily prolonged method of death,
which the ACLU challenged as a
brutal and cruel punishment, com-
- pounds this tragedy.
We are encouraged that several
California's
Rush ...
Continued from page I
"That Court has ... decided that it is intol-
erable for a Federal court to delay an exe--
cution to decide a constitutional question.
Robert Alton Harris was a casualty of this
decision. Was the Constitution too?"
The execution brought an outcry heard
around the world. An editorial in the
London Evening Standard was entitled
"Auschwitz in California', and _ the
London Times editorialized, "By any defi-
nition, gassing a man to death is cruel and
unusual punishment. How can any state
tolerate the gas chamber after the Nazi
Holocaust?" France's Le Monde called the
execution "an obscene spectacle" and the
Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano called it
"perverse justice." The United States "exe-
cutes its criminals in greater numbers than
any country except Iraq and Iran - sad
comparisons," wrote another French news-
paper. `
Anti-death penalty voices were heard
closer to home as well. After weeks of
protests and an all-night vigil at the gates
of San Quentin, abolitionists held an April
21 noon rally at the State Building in San
Francisco. Pat Clark of Death Penalty
Focus said, "We are angry at the state for
killing in our name. But above all, we're
not going to go away." The Oakland
Tribune's April 22 editorial "Vengeance is
done," asked, "Is society any better off
today than it was three days ago? ... Life
imprisonment without parole protects soci-
ety just as well without requiring the state
to commit legalized murder."
In the articles' that follow, the ACLU
News attempts to bring to our readers an in
depth view of the legal challenges to
Robert Harris's execution and the political
challenges to the resumption of the Geatlh
penalty in California.
- The Editor
On the mornin:
ACLU-NC Executive Di
issued the follow
It is a tragedy that the state of
executions
:
1ing of April 21,
Director Dorothy Ehrlich
owing statement:
federal judges in the Ninth Circuit
paid serious attention to these
issues. In the end, justice was not
done.
aclu news
may - june 1992 5
Trying to Save My Client's Life
- by Michael Laurence
Director
ACLU-NC Death Penalty Project
21, the State of California strapped
my client, Robert Harris, into one of
the two chairs in San Quentin's gas cham-
ber. The guards who accompanied Robert
Harris into the chamber left, and the steel
door was closed. My client had prepared
himself the best he could for what was to
happen. But no amount of preparation
could have equipped Robert Harris for the
torture that the State of California was to
inflict on him. For over the next twelve
minutes, the State of California let- Robert
Harris sit in the gas chamber, forcing him
to believe that his death was minutes away
and to acknowledge that even in death his
caretakers could not be trusted to treat him
I n the early morning hours of April
The effort to preve
of many dedicated
tors, investigators and "6
who contributed their skills
energy in a just attempt to
Robert Harris. We know that their
knowledge will be valued and their
voices will continue to be heard as
we work to prevent future state killings.
Unusual Punishment
eath by inhalation of hydrogen
D cyanide gas is the slowest method
of execution currently in use - it
is slower than hanging, firing squad, elec-
trocution, even garroting." This statement
by Dr. Terence B. Allen, a forensic
pathologist who has reviewed several
thousand deaths is one of dozens of dec-
larations in support of the ACLU-NC law-
suit challenging the use of the gas
chamber as cruel and unusual punishment.
The class action civil rights suit,
Fierro v. Gomez was filed by ACLU-NC
attorneys Michael Laurence and Matthew
Coles in U.S. District Court in San
Francisco on Friday, April 17 - just four
days before the state of California was to
use lethal gas to kill a person for the first
time in 25 years. The suit, which asks the
court to declare death by lethal gas to be
cruel and unusual punishment, is sup-
ported by the declarations of numerous
doctors, witnesses to lethal gas executions
including prison officials and journalists,
as well as Holocaust survivors.
Stay of execution
Ina rapid response to the suit, U.S.
District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel
-held a rare Saturday night hearing on the
case on April 18. In a packed federal
courtroom, Judge Patel heard arguments
from Laurence about why the state of
California should not "violently and pain-
fully suffocate to death" Robert Harris or
any of the more than 300 condemned
inmates on California's Death Row.
In response to the Attorney General's
- argument that the case was brought too
late, Laurence argued that the case would
not have been ripe had not a plaintiff
faced the gas chamber. This was not the
case for Robert Harris until he was denied
Michael frorence Director of the 'ACLU-N C Death Penalty Project, and ACLU-NC
Executive Director Dorothy Ehrlich at a press conference following the execution.
Nancy Otto
with the dignity and respect due all human
beings.
I write not about the execution of my -
client at 6:21 AM. Instead, I write about
the twelve minutes that forever changed
California's image in the world - the
1 minutes that Robert Harris
General Dan Lungren kept Robert Harris
strapped in the gas chamber to agonize
over the slowness of his death and to won-
der about his ultimate fate.
In press conferences following the exe-
cution, California law enforcement offi-
cials sought to deflect the blame for this
torture. First, they sought to explain it by
questioning the propriety of Ninth Circuit
Judge Harry Pregerson's right to intrude
on the killing process. Attorney General
Dan Lungren stated that the delay in
removing Robert Harris from the gas
chamber was caused because it was sus-
pected that the life-saving telephone call
was a "prank." He did not even know who
dge Pregerson was. He then "corrected"
himself to say that the several minute
a ley resulted from efforts to determine
~ "prank" telephone call was
by the Judge Pregerson.
of events that morning
arrogance, or sheer
p Daniel Vasquez, the
clemency - the day before the suit was
filed - by Governor Wilson. In addition,
because the gas chamber had not been
used in any state for several decades, it
was not until the gas chamber execution
of Donald Harding in Arizona on April 6
that "real horrors of lethal gas were really
known," said Laurence. Had the challenge
been filed any later, Laurence explained,
then the state would have executed Robert
Harris by an unconstitutional means
before the court had the opportunity to
examine whether the gas chamber was
indeed cruel and unusual punishment. -
In an action later described by Ninth
Circuit Court Judge John Noonan as "cou-
rageous" and a refusal to "commit treason
to the Constitution," Judge Patel issued
from the bench a 10-day Temporary
ing Robert
are less well-
traightforward: "If persons are put to deat
in a manner that is determined to be cruel,
they suffer an injury that can never be
undone, and the Constitution suffers an
injury that can never be repaired." The
stay was reinstated by an order of 10
judges of the Ninth Circuit on April 20 and
finally over-
turned by the
os : : U.S. Supreme
Restraining Order, including a stay of Court by a 7-
Harris's execution, and set a hearing on 2 vote just
the merits of evidence for April 28. Judge hour bene
Patel's order was overturned the follow- the erecquca.
ing day by a 2-1 vote of a three judge The 465
panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of senting US.
Appeals.
: Supreme Court
The dissent, by Judge Noonan, was
justices were
Harry
`Blackmun and
John Paul
Stevens. Stevens
wrote in his dis-
sent, "The barbaric use of
cyanide gas in _ the
Holocaust, the development
of cyanide agents as chemi-
cal weapons, our contempo-
rary understanding of
execution by lethal gas, and
the development of less
cruel methods of execution
all demonstrate that execu-
Quentin, informing prison officials of the
stay of execution. I also immediately
called San Quentin, frantically trying to
get through. I finally reached the legal
affairs secretary at the prison. Prison offi-
cials were aware that Judge Pregerson was
issuing a stay. At 3:53 AM, Robert Harris
said, "I can't move." As minutes ticked
by, Robert Harris could not understand the
reason for the delay. At 3:58 AM, the sul-
furic acid was drained from the killing
apparatus. At 4:01 AM, Robert Harris was
taken from the gas chamber.
The truth of the matter is that Robert
Harris was not kept in the gas chamber to
determine the "legitimacy" of Judge
Pregerson's order. Instead, the truth is that
the Attorney General's Office kept Robert
Harris ready to die while it sought an
order from the U.S. Supreme Court vacat-
ing the stay of execution.
The proof of this allegation is a matter
of public record: it is contained in the
Attorney General's request to the U. S.
Supreme Court to vacate the stay.
In a one paragraph motion to the
Supreme Court, the Attorney General's
office had typed "Mr. Harris is presently
in the gas chamber." That sentence was
crossed out by hand. The Attorney
General's facsimile machine stamped the
time of the correspondence to the U.S.
Supreme Court as 4:06 AM, minutes after
Robert Harris had been removed from the
gas chamber. The implication is obvious:
at the same time the Attorney General's
office was typing its application to lift the
stay to the U.S. Supreme Court, the war-
den kept Robert Harris in the gas chamber.
Later, Governor Pete Wilson would
join in the attacks by charging that, as
Robert Harris's attorney, I was responsible
_ for inflicting this "cruel and unusual" pun-
ishment on my own client by attempting to _
save his life.
Not only has the state of California
resorted to using the same method of kill-
ing used by Nazi Germany, but now its
highest public officials have resorted to
doublespeak and false accusations against -
those who tried to defend Robert Harris
and our constitutional rights.
Minutes before his execution, Robert
Harris thanked his legal defense team in a
telephone conversation with my fellow
defense attorney Charles Sevilla who was
_in another room in the prison. Robert
Harris saw that final stay as an act of God,
that it was a second chance for life - one
that he never had before. I am horrified
that Robert Harris was forced to suffer in
the gas chamber. I have absolutely no
regrets about protecting my client's life.
anide gag.is unnecessarily cruel.
Patel issued an order authorizing he vide-
-otaping of the Harris execution as evi-
dence in the case. The videotape was
made and has been sealed by an order of
the court. The April 28 hearing date was
vacated by Judge Patel, and a new date has
not yet been set.
Although the videotape is still sealed
by the court, media outlets from all over
the country have asked for access to it.
The requests have come from network tel-
evision news, as well as local media out-
lets and the "tabloid TV" shows. Variety
called it "America's most wanted video-
tape."
Brutal form of death
Charging that "this method of execu-
tion is not even acceptable for euthanasia
on animals," attorneys Laurence and Coles
amassed an enormous amount of docu-
mentation on lethal gas.
"The prisoner will experience the ter-
Continued on page 6
aclu news
may - june 1992
"Voices that have been
Silenced"
by Marcia Gallo
Director, Howard A. Friedman First
Amendment Education Project
n March 21, 30 teachers and acti-
vists gathered at San Francisco
`State University to participate in
the first session of a unique ACLU confer-
ence for high school teachers, "Teaching
the First Amendment: Voices That Have
Been Silenced."
"Voices..." is the theme of the 1992
Teachers' Conferences organized and
developed by the Howard A. Friedman
First Amendment Education Project of the
ACLU Foundation of Northern California.
The March meeting, and the second ses-
sion scheduled for September 26, are
designed to celebrate the work being done
by teachers, students, and activists to
increase the information available to high
school students about the people whose
stories are often overlooked: people of
color, women, lesbians and gay men, peo-
ple with disabilities, and others who have
struggled for their rights throughout our
- country's history.
"We have always been an interactive
polyglot," said ACLU National Legal
Director john powell in a powerful and
provocative keynote address defining mul-
ticulturalism and celebrating diversity as a.
fundamental feature of U. S. society. He
_emphasized that "American culture" is a
living, changing thing, and noted that our
challenge is to become "culturally fluent."
Warning that there will always be prej-
udice, powell criticized current approaches
to cultural diversity that are simplistic or
fail to emphasize the importance of learn-
ing about many communities. "The dan-
ger is that the operative way to be
multicultural (today) is to be tolerant.
`Critical engagement is the response we
should give ... we can offer a counter-
vision," he said.
One such vision was offered by
Yvonne Swan of the International Indian
Treaty Council. Swan greeted the group in
the language of her ancestors, and
described the history of resistance by
Native people in the Americas to the
appropriation of their lands and lives. She
detailed the International Indian Treaty
Council's plans to celebrate the survival
of indigenous peoples despite 500 years
of "discovery." From October 1 - 12,
there will be an international tribunal, a
conference, special cultural events,
parades and walks. On October 12 a cere-
mony on Alcatraz Island will feature
Nelson Mandela as an honored guest. The
Council will also mark 18 years of advo-
cacy and agitation on behalf of Native
people around the world in June.
The final speaker of the opening
panel, San Francisco high school teacher
Barbara Blinick challenged the group to
include sexual orientation in the definition
of multiculturalism, and talked about the
silencing of lesbian and gay voices in the
classroom. Blinick gave specific exam-
ples of men and women who are studied
as important literary or historical figures
but unacknowledged as lesbians or gay
men, even when their sexual orientation is
directly relevant to their work. Blinick
discussed the work of San Francisco
Unified School District's Support
Services for Gay/Lesbian Youth, and then
led the group in a discussion of how to
confront homophobia in the classroom.
Her new curriculum, "Lesbian and Gay
Organizing in the 1960s and 1970s," is
included in the 230-page resource binder
distributed to all conference participants.
Interactive workshops led by teachers,
for teachers were conducted by David
Christiano, an English teacher at Oakland
Technical High School, and Rick Herbert,
a social studies and history teacher at
New College Park High School in
Pleasant Hill. Their innovative sessions
included the use of films (D. W. Griffiths'
- "Birth of A Nation" and Spike Lee's "Do
The Right Thing') to involve students in
discussions of censorship and strategies
for achieving social change.
Session II of "Teaching the First
Amendment: Voices That Have Been
Silenced" is scheduled for Saturday,
September 26, from 10:00 AM to 3:00
PM at San Francisco State University's
Guest Center. A fee of $10.00 includes
all materials and lunch.
For more information or to register,
please contact Marcia Gallo, 415/621-2493.
Gas Chamber ...
Continued from page 5
ror of air hunger, a sense of strangulation,
and desperate gasping for breath for a
period extending up to several minutes,"
writes Dr. Howard Kornfeld in support of
the claim. A San Francisco physician certi-
fied to treat victims of cyanide poisoning,
Dr. Kornfeld compared death in the gas
chamber to "a simultaneous stroke and
heart attack."
"Tt creates a painful and terrorized state
which is purposeless and needless," stated
Dr. Allen. "It produces prolonged seizures,
incontinence of stool and urine, salivation, (c)
vomiting, retching and writhing, flailing,
twitching of extremities, grimacing, groan-
ing and moaning."
"Tt is medically and scientifically irre-
sponsible to reach a conclusion that prison-
ers become unconscious within seconds of
inhaling poisonous gas," said Dr. Robert
Kirschner, the deputy chief medical exam-
iner of Cook County, Illinois.
Those who have witnessed gas cham-
ber executions give chilling accounts of
the prolonged and torturous impact on the
condemned. The most recent example of
lethal gassing prior to California's execu-
tion, the April 6 execution of Donald
Harding in Arizona, was typically brutal.
"His face was red and contorted as if he
were attempting to fight through tremen-
dous pain," one witness described.
Another observed, "Don's body started
convulsing violently and his arms strained
against the straps. His face and body
turned a deep red and the veins in his tem-
ple and neck began to bulge until I thought
they might explode."
In 1983, Mississippi put Jimmy Lee
Gray to death in that state's gas chamber.
A witness remembers the "chilling sound
of his head desperately smashing against
the pole (behind him). ... He slumped and
lay still for a few moments, then tensed up
and resumed his struggling, again smash-
ing his head against the pole." The cruelty
of Gray's execution led Mississippi to
abandon lethal gas for those condemned
after July 1, 1984.
Three states
Of the 38 jurisdictions authorizing the
death penalty in the United States, only
three - Arizona, California and Maryland
- still mandate execution only by gas.
Arizona, which prior to Harding's execu-
tion had not used the gas chamber since
1976; Maryland has not executed anyone
since 1961.
"This virtual unanimous rejection of
lethal gas as an acceptable method of exe-
cution demonstrates that its proposed use
by California is a violation of the evolving
standards of decency," said Laurence.
"We do not put a stray dog or a labora-
tory rat to death by suffocation," said Dr.
Kent Olson, director of the poison control
center at UC San Francisco.
Holocaust survivors
Declarations from Nazi death camp
survivors stated that they believed execu-
Continued on page 8
U.
ACLU Honors Dellums
S. Representative Ronald V.
Dellums was honored by the
national ACLU Legislative
Office on March 17 with the 1992
Congressional Civil Liberties Award.
Dellums, who represents California's 8th
Congressional District (East Bay), was
awarded for his consistent fight to prevent
claims of national security from eroding
our civil liberties and constitutional
democracy.
Kate Martin, Director of the ACLU
National Security Project, said, "In leading
these fights, Dellums raised his voice with
great eloquence and always reminds me of
the real importance of this issue - the
human meaning of the choice between war
and peace and who gets to make that
choice. Despite the end of the Cold War,
these battles are not over."
Representative Dellums was a member
of the Pike Committee that investigated
abuses of the intelligence agencies in
the1970's and was the author of the
Omnibus Intelligence Control Act of
1974. He authored several comprehensive
alternatives to annual defense authoriza-
tion bills and numerous amendments to
curb or eliminate U.S. covert paramilitary
action. His court challenges include
Dellums v. Smith, a suit to challenge cov-
ert funding of the Nicaraguan contras as a
violation of the Neutrality Act and
Dellums v. Bush, demanding that the con-
_ Stitutional clause which vests Congress
with the power to declare war be observed
by President Bush in his plans to wage
war against Iraq.
On receiving the award, Dellums said,
"TJ am determined to join the ACLU and
other defenders of our civil rights and lib-
erties in the continuing struggle against
militarism and its false claims against our
fundamental constitutional rights."
Governor's Welfare Cuts...
Continued from page 3
travel, and is clearly unconstitutional.
Similar requirements in Pennsylvania,
Connecticut and the District of Columbia
were thrown out by the U.S. Supreme
Court in 1969," Pefia said.
Wilson's welfare initiative
Wilson's welfare package was killed
by the Assembly Human _- Services
Committee and the Senate Health and
Welfare Committee in early April. He now
plans to take it to the voters this fall in the
guise of a "Taxpayers Protection Act
Initiative," which contains most of the
same provisions.
In the meantime, the state Legislature
is considering two Democratic alternatives
on welfare grants. One, SB 1834, proposed
by . Senator Mike Thompson (D-St.
Helena), has already been passed by the
Health and Human Services Committee. It
contains many of the aid cuts and restric-
tions proposed by Wilson, including
AFDC grant cuts of up to 4.5%, the cap on
new children, and lower grants for new
state residents. It also mandates that fami-
lies receiving AFDC for two years enter
into a workfare program or face a 75% cut
in aid. This would go into effect when and
if the controversial GAIN program is fully
_ funded.
Several Democratic committee mem-
bers urged Senator Thompson to remove
the family cap and residency provisions,
and he has agreed to consider that request.
SB 1834 will be heard in the Senate Fiscal
and Budget Review Committee by the end
of May.
Bates alternative
In the Assembly, Tom Bates (D-
Oakland) introduced AB 2646, which
focuses on increasing access to services
and support that can help AFDC recipients
break the cycle of dependency. It increases
job training and educational opportunities
for aid recipients, rewards employers who -
hire parents on welfare, and helps the
working poor remain taxpayers instead of
being forced to rely on public assistance.
AB 2646 does not contain any provisions
for cuts in AFDC grants, and was passed
by the Assembly and is now being
reviewed by Senate committees.
"Assemblymember Bates's proposal
answers the concerns of welfare advocates
throughout the state. It's a sound plan to
make progress in our fight against pov-
erty," said Pefia."On the other hand, SB -
1834 imposes serious limitations on the
constitutional rights of low-income people,
and will only increase the numbers of peo-
ple who are denied access to food, health
care and the opportunity to find employ-
ment. It must be defeated."
The ACLU has joined forces with
Campaign For a Fair Share, a broad-based
coalition working to stop Wilson's welfare
cuts agenda. More than 30 organizations, .
ranging from women's rights groups and
homeless advocates to religious and stu-
dent groups have signed on to this alliance.
The action plan to defeat the Governor's
welfare cuts initiative includes forums, ral-
lies, vigils, and demonstrations around the
state. ACLU-NC members are encouraged
to get involved with the coalition in your
area.
For more information call or write
Campaign for a Fair Share, 926 J.
Street, suite 422, Sacramento, CA
95814, 916/447-0390. In the Bay Area,
call or write SOS, 225 Valencia Street,
San Francisco, CA 94103, 415/252-0705.
aclu news
may - june 1992 7
Donors Celebrate Fundraising Success
n March 16 the ACLU-NC
Foundation celebrated the end of
its four annual fundraising cam-
paigns with a gala dinner for benefactors at -
Monsoon Restaurant. 140 of the ACLU
Founders Circle members (donors of
$1,000 and above) filled the restaurant
with energetic discourse and friendly dis-
cussion, while they enjoyed an elegant
meal prepared by chef Bruce Cost. The
evening also included a provocative pres-
entation from ACLU-NC Police Practices
Project Director John Crew on the work of
the ACLU to implement federal, state and
local changes to stem police abuse.
"Our donors and volunteers are feeling
Development Committee Chair Fran
Strauss introduces the program.
Union Maid Photos
a well deserved pleasure in their accom-
plishments," said Development Chair Fran
Strauss. "They were able to raise more in
donations this fiscal year than in the last,
even though many of us had worried that
the economic recession would take its toll.
Instead, once again the ACLU found that
our loyal supporters are really there for
us.
"Our donors make the ACLU a priority
because they understand the seriousness of
the threats to civil liberties today," she
added.
Each of the campaigns was successful,
with final totals for each higher than last
year. The Major Gifts Campaign raised a
total of $594,000, which included a
$35,000 challenge gift from a generous
anonymous donor. The Bill of Rights
Campaign raised $116,000; the Lawyers
Council Campaign $47,000; and the
Physicians Committee for Reproductive
Rights $35,000. Combined with founda-
tion grants, income from membership dues
and funds shared from the national ACLU
direct mail appeals, a total of $1,355,000
was raised to support the combined
ACLU/ACLU_ Foundation budget of
$1,939,000. (Additional funds were
received from court-awarded attorneys
fees, charitable bequests and interest.)
"Without this generous support, the
ACLU could not maintain its efforts here
in Northern California to protect the guar-
antees contained in the Bill of Rights,"
said Development Director Cheri Bryant.
"T want to express my gratitude and my
admiration for everyone who participated
in our fundraising efforts this year,"
Strauss stressed. "It literally takes the com-
bined work of our staff and hundreds of
volunteers, all dedicated to supporting the
ACLU, to make this success possible.
Thank you!"
ACLU-NC Board Chair Milton Estes (center) with Sari Staver and Ron Wilmot.
Union Maid Photos
Development Committee (I.-r.) Fran Strauss, Chair; Zona Sage, John Rutherford,
Milton Estes, Julius Young, Nancy Pemberton, Margaret Russell, Davis Riemer,
Marlene De Lancie. (Not pictured: H. Lee Halterman, Dick Grosboll)
Dick Grosboll
ACLU-NC Board member David Balabanian with David Kalish and Amy Kalish
(r.-1).
Union Maid Photos
Development Committee member Nancy Pemberton with Tom Layton, Director of
the Gerbode Foundation and Al Baum (I-r.)
Union Maid Photos
Attorney Makes Unique
Grant to ACLU
rominent East Bay attorney Brad
Seligman has crafted an innovative
means of providing - substantial
financial support for the ACLU-NC
Foundation. Seligman, currently counsel to
the Oakland law firm of Saperstein,
Mayeda, Larkin and Goldstein, structured
the settlement of a large class action law
suit to provide for payments to the ACLU-
NC, the Employment Law Center, and the
Legal Aid Society of Alameda County of
those funds remaining in the settlement
fund after all qualified claimants have been
paid. Payments to the three organizations
have so far totaled nearly $300,000.
The settlement stems from a suit, Mest
v. The Federated Group, filed several
years ago on behalf of thousands of job
applicants to and employees of a corpora-
tion that owns and operates some 40 retail
stores throughout California. The suit chal-
lenged Federated's use of polygraph exams
in their hiring and promotion decisions.
The plaintiffs charged that the exams vio-
lated Labor Code provisions prohibiting
employers from requiring job applicants to
take such tests. Federated argued in
defense that its nearly 12,000 polygraph
tests over a four-year period were not
improper because no _ applicant or
employee was compelled to take them.
Seligman, then partner in the firm of
Saperstein, Seligman, and Mayeda, was
lead counsel for the plaintiffs. He was
assisted by Mari Mayeda and Jocelyn
Larkin.
As.a result of extensive legal work,
Federated agreed to settle the case for
$12.1 million - the largest settlement of
its kind in the nation. The settlement
agreement called for the funds to be dis-
tributed to individuals who could show
that they had been hurt in some way by
Federated's use of polygraph exams.
Those funds remaining after compensation
of all qualified individuals would be paid
out equally to the ACLU-NC, and the two
other organizations. This unique settle-
ment agreement has so far netted each
organization $95,000 from the settlement
fund. :
"All three organizations have done a
lot of work on privacy rights issues, " said
Seligman. "I can't think of any organiza-
tions in northern California that have done
more. "
Seligman, a long-time supporter of
ACLU-NC, is a_ nationally-renowned .
expert in class action employment litiga-
tion. He is lead counsel in Soroka v.
Target Stores, a major employee privacy
case now pending before the California
Supreme Court. At issue before the high
court is the Court of Appeals decision bar-
ring Target Stores from giving psychologi-
cal tests with religious and sexual
questions to job applicants and confirming
that certain provisions of the Labor Code0x2122
' prohibit discrimination by private employ-
ers on the basis of sexual orientation. The
ACLU-NC is amicus in the case. Seligman
is also lead counsel in the highly-visible
class action suit against Lucky Stores
which alleges a pattern and practice of
gender discrimination by Lucky in
employment decisions.
aclu news
may - june 1992
ro
and march with us!
Otto at 415/621-2493.
Tom Reilly at 510/528-7832.
N
Join the ACLU-NC Contingent
in the
Lesbian/Gay Freedom Day Parade
Sunday, June 28
Assemble at 10:00 AM at Embarcadero 2, first floor in front of Cinnabon's.
The march will go from Justin Herman Plaza at the foot of Market Street
(near the Ferry Building) to Civic Center Plaza. Look for the ACLU banner
All ACLU members are invited to march. We also need volunteers to
serve as contingent monitors. Call Tom Reilly at 510/528-7832 or Nancy
The ACLU-NC Lesbian and Gay Rights Chapter will staff a booth in
Civic Center Plaza to distribute ACLU literature, sell T-shirts and promote
membership in the ACLU. All ACLU members are encouraged to drop by
the booth and say hello. Anyone interested in staffing the booth should call
~
SJ
Lesbian/Gay Rights Chapter
Gay Rights Chapter, please check to
see that the 3-letter code "CNG" is
printed above your name on the ACLU
News mailing label.
If not, please notify the ACLU-NC
Membership Department.
If you are an ACLU member in north-
erm California and would like to join the
I f you are a member of the Lesbian/
Lesbian/Gay Rights Chapter, call or write
ACLU-NC Membership Department
1663 Mission Street, Suite 460
San Francisco, CA 94103
telephone: 415/621-2493.
Please mention your membership num-
ber located on the ACLU News mailing
label.
Harris Video ...
Continued from page 2
underscores the importance of clemency in
light of the disturbing fact that neither the
sentencing jury nor the state Supreme
Court was aware of this compelling evi-
dence when they condemned Harris to
death.
Here are some
I believe it would be
father] when his father was twice incarcer-
ated for having committed acts of sexual
perversion upon his two eldest daughters.
Testimony from family members and other
eyewitnesses bears out these notations
from official records, consistently attesting
that Robert Harris was singled out by his
father for especially brutal treatment.
Family members recount how all 9 sib-
lings were often called into the living
room and told by
their father, as he
loaded a gun, that
of the highlights: they had 30 seconds
Dr. Kenneth L. both a tragedy and to hide, then he
Jones: - [After 0x00B0 0x00B0 0x00B0 would kill any child
describing in grea JQllure of the Justice te couatina
detail the physical
and medical evi-
dence that con-
_ vinced him _ that
Robert Harris suf-
fered from FAS] I
think that the fact
that Robert has FAS
is extremely rele-
vant to the
Governor's decision
with respect to
clemency because I
think that individu-
als with FAS really
do not understand
the consequences of
their actions. I think
they really do not
understand the consequences of right and
wrong. Individuals with FAS have a very
serious defect in development of their
brain. This is something which is beyond
their control. It's not something they have
any say over. It's due to the fact that unfor-
tunately their mother drank from a very
early stage in their development. That
alcohol affected very seriously the devel-
opment of their brain.
Dr. Ann Streissguth: Because [people
with FAS] are brain-damaged and because
they don't really see the world in the same
way that we do, they often interpret situa-
tions differently. There may be a circum-
stance where they feel as though they are
trapped or cornered and they have a ten-
dency to lash out without thinking about
_ what would happen, rather than a planned,
vengeful kind of violence.
Mike Farrell: Robert Harris was res-
cued from these [brutal beatings from his
system if Mr. Harris __0x00B0-
were executed when
neither the jury and
judge nor any other
adjudicative
authority, sought to
objectively evaluate
the new evidence.
-Justice Frank Newman
Spencer
Eth: You have to
imagine what it's
like to be a child
who's been abused
by a parent. That is
like being a terrorist
hostage, at the
mercy of somebody
upon whom you are
completely depen-
dent for your very
existence. It is prob-
ably the most toxic
condition imagin-
able for a young
person to live
through. And many
young children do
not survive. The consequences of child
abuse can be irreversible.
Justice Frank Newman: Eleven years
ago, as a California Supreme Court
Justice, I signed the majority opinion
affirming the death sentence of Robert
Alton Harris. I learn now that the jury and
the judge who sentenced him, and also our
court, when affirming the sentence, had no
access to substantial evidence that he suf-
fers from FAS, from organic brain damage
caused by head injuries, and from post-
traumatic stress disorder caused by brutal
abuse from his parents and others.
This newly found evidence appears to
have been rejected on recent appeal mostly
on procedural grounds. I believe it would
be both a tragedy and failure of the justice
system if Mr. Harris were executed when
neither the jury and judge nor any other
adjudicative authority, sought to objec-
tively evaluate the new evidence.
Chapter Meetings
(Chapter meetings are open to all inter-
ested members. Contact the chapter acti-
vist listed for your area.)
B-A-R-K (Berkeley-Albany-Richmond-
Kensington) Chapter Meeting: (Usually
fourth Thursday) Volunteers needed for
the chapter hotline - call Florence
Piliavin at 510/848-5195 for further
- details. For more information, time and
address of meetings, contact Julie Houk,
510/848-4752.
(Oakland/Alameda
Earl Warren
County) Chapter Meeting: (Usually
second Wednesday) Meet on
Wednesday, June 10. Chapter Hotline,
510/534-ACLU is now available 24
hours; volunteers are needed to staff the
hotline. For time and address of meet-
ings, please call Irv Kermish, 510/836-
4036 or Abe Feinberg, 510/451-1122.
Fresno Chapter Meeting: (Usually third
Monday) Meet on June 15 at at 6:30 PM
at San Joaquin Law School. New mem-
bers always welcome! For more informa-
tion, call Nadya Coleman at 209/229-
7178 (days) or A.J. Kruth at 209/432-
1483 (evenings).
Lesbian and Gay Rights Chapter
Meeting: (Usually first Thursday) Meet
on Thursday, June 4 at the ACLU Office,
1663 Mission, #460, San Francisco at
7:00 PM. The Lesbian and Gay Rights
Chapter will be participants in the
Lesbian and Gay Freedom Parade on
June 28 - please join us. For more infor-
mation, contact Tom Reilly, 510/528-
7832.
Marin County Chapter Meeting: (Third
Monday) Meet Monday, June 15 at 7:30
PM, Westamerica Bank, East Blithedale
and Sunnyside Avenues, Mill Valley. The
Marin County Chapter will have its
Annual Meeting on Sunday, June 7 at the
Unitarian Church, 240 Channing Way,
San Rafael. For more information, con-
tact Harvey Dinerstein, 415/381-6129.
Mid-Peninsula (Palo Alto area)
Chapter Meeting: (Usually last
Thursday) Meet Thursday, May 28 and
June 25 at 7:30 PM at the California
Federal Bank, El Camino Real, Palo Alto.
There will be a featured speaker at each
meeting. New members welcome! For
more information, contact Harry
Anisgard, 415/856-9186 or call the
Chapter Hotline at 415/328-0732.
Monterey County Chapter Meeting:
(Usually first Tuesday) Meet on
Tuesday, June 2 at 7:30 PM at the
Monterey Library, Community Room,
Pacific and Madison Streets, Monterey.
For more information, contact Richard
Criley, 408/624-7562.
Mt. Diablo (Contra Costa County)
Chapter Meeting: (Usually fourth
Thursday) For more information, call the
hotline at 510/215-8465.
North Peninsula (San Mateo area)
Chapter Meeting: (Usually third
Monday) Meet on Monday, June 15 7:30
PM at the Unitarian Church, 300 E. Santa
Inez Street, San Mateo. Note: The North
Pen Chapter has a new Hotline num-
ber: 579-1789. For more information,
contact Audrey Guerin at 415/574-4053.
North Valley (Shasta, Siskiyou,
Tehema, and _ Trinity Counties)
Chapter Meeting: (Usually third
Wednesday) Meet on Wednesday, June
17 at 6:30 PM at Harry Restaurant,
Redding. For more information contact
interim Chairperson Tillie Smith at 916/
549-3998.
Field Program
Monthly Meetings
_ information, call the Chapter Information
_ for additional information.
Redwood (Humboldt County) Chapter
Meeting: (Usually third Monday) The
Redwood Chapter held its first Annual
Meeting on May 1 at the Unitarian
Fellowship Church, Bayside. For more
information contact Christina Huskey at
707/444-6595.
Sacramento Valley Chapter Meeting:
(Usually second Wednesday) Location of
June 15 meeting to be advised. For more
information, contact Ruth Ordas, 916/
488-9956
San Francisco Chapter Meeting: (Usu-
ally third Tuesday) Meet on Tuesday, June
16 at 7:00 PM. at ACLU office, 1663
Mission, 460, San Francisco. For more
Line at 415/979-6699.
Santa Clara Valley Chapter Meeting:
(Usually first Tuesday) Meet on Tuesday,
June 2 at 7:00 PM at the Community
Bank Building, 3rd Floor Conference
Room, corner of Market/St. John Streets,
San Jose. Annual Meeting on Tuesday,
May 26 at 7:00 PM at the Los Gatos
Unitarian Fellowship, 15980 Blossom Hill
Road, Los Gatos. A special program is
being planned. Contact John Cox 408/
226-7421, for further information.
Santa Cruz. County Chapter Meeting:
(Usually third Tuesday) Meet on Tuesday,
June 16. Chapter will continue to work on
combating Hate Crimes. Contact Simba
Kenyatta, 408/476-4873 for further infor-
mation.
Sonoma County Chapter Meeting:
(Usually third Wednesday) Meet
Wednesday, June 17 at 7:30 PM at the
Peace and Justice Center, 540 Pacific
Avenue, Santa Rosa. The Sonoma
County Chapter will be have Pro-Choice
tables at two local events: the Health and
Harmony Fair at the Sonoma County
Fairgrounds on June 13 and 14 from
10:00 AM to 7:00 PM. and Celebrate
Sonoma at the Luther Burbank Center on
June 20 and 21 from 11:00 AM to 6:00-
PM. There will be a Banned Film
Festival in July. Call Steve Thornton at
707/544-8115 for further information.
Yolo County Chapter Meeting: (Third
Thursday of the month) Meet on
Thursday, June 18. For more information,
contact Alan Brownstein at 916/752-2586.
Field Action Meetings
(All meetings except those noted will be
held at the ACLU-NC Office, 1663
Mission Street, #460, San Francisco.)
Student Outreach Committee: (Usually .
third Saturday) Meet on Saturday, June 20
from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM. Contact
Marcia Gallo, at ACLU-NC 415/621-2493,
Civil Rights Committee: (Fourth Saturday)
Meet on Saturday, June 27 from 10:00 AM
to 11:30 AM. RSVP to Nancy Otto at the
ACLU-NC 415/621-2493.
First Amendment Committee: (Fourth
Saturday) Meet on Saturday, June 27 from
12:00 PM to 1:30 PM. RSVP to Nancy Otto
at the ACLU-NC 415/621-2493.
Pro-Choice Action Campaign: Speakers
Training to prepare for response to U.S.
Supreme Court decision in Planned
Parenthood v. Casey, on July 25, at the
Firehouse, Fort Mason Center, San
Francisco. Contact Nancy Otto at. the
ACLU-NC 415/621-2493. .
Gas Chamber...
Continued from page 6
tion by cyanide gas - which the Nazis
called Zyklon B - was inhumane and .
raised painful memories of the extermina-
tion of the Jews during World War II.
Gloria Lyons, a Holocaust survivor who
submitted a declaration in support of the
lawsuit, wrote, "As a person who saw the
daily horror of mass extermination by gas,
I know that execution by gas is torture and
it can never be anything less."
Another Dachau survivor recalled the Nazi
death camps, "Scratch marks from peo-
ple's fingernails were visible on the walls
and on the pile bodies," he wrote in his
declaration. "I know that the gas chambers
caused a merciless and painful death."
"Use of lethal gas constitutes the
unnecessary infliction of pain and torture,"
Laurence asserted. "The state of California
must be prevented from any further utiliza-
tion of this barbarism."