ACLU Asks Governor to Disclose
Secret Execution Date
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 16, 1997In a letter hand-delivered today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado (ACLU) asked Governor Roy Romer to disclose the date scheduled for the upcoming execution of convicted murderer Gary Davis, the first execution in Colorado in thirty years. Romer refused Davis’s bid for clemency yesterday.
"No legitimate government purpose is served by treating an execution date as an official state secret," said Mark Silverstein, ACLU Legal Director.
The execution warrant specifies that the execution will take place sometime in the week beginning October 11. According to a Colorado statute originally enacted in 1889, the Director of the Department of Corrections selects the particular time and date of the execution. The statute forbids the Director from making the date public, but, according to the ACLU, the statute does not restrict the Governor from disclosing the date.
The ACLU’s letter, which relies on both the First Amendment and the Colorado Open Records Act, was written on behalf of Amnesty International Group 60 and the Colorado Coalition Against the Death Penalty. The anti-death penalty groups plan to conduct a protest and vigil outside the prison gates and want to schedule the event to coincide with the time of the execution.
Such demonstrations in opposition to capital punishment have become common throughout the United States at the scene of executions. They often inspire counter-demonstrations by supporters of the death penalty.
"I can think of only one reason that Colorado might want to keep the date of the execution secret," said James Joy, ACLU Executive Director, who is also the chair of the Colorado Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. "And that is to keep demonstrators away from the scene and muffle public debate. The government has no legitimate interest in stifling public discussion about capital punishment."
"Courts have ruled that public witnesses, including the media, have a First Amendment right to observe executions," Silverstein said. "Individuals have a corresponding right to know the time and date of an execution so that they can gather outside the prison gates and peacefully protest the use of capital punishment."
Almost every state that imposes capital punishment announces the date and time of an execution in advance, according to Silverstein. The original reasons for enacting Colorado’s unusual statute, Silverstein said, are no longer valid today. According to an 1889 Colorado Supreme Court decision, the statute was enacted originally because the crowds that assembled at public hangings were believed to detract from "good public morals."
In its letter, the ACLU asked that Governor Romer respond by Friday, "in order to provide sufficient time for judicial review" before the week in which the execution is scheduled.
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