Annual Dinner to Feature David Kaczynski,
Brother of the "Unabomber"
Abolitionist Awards Go to the Harlan Defense
Team and Charles Milligan
The 2006 CADP Annual Dinner, scheduled for
April 6, will feature a keynote address by
a man with quite a story to tell.
David
Kaczynski, shown in this photo, is executive director of
New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty (NYADP)
and the brother of Ted Kaczynski - the so-called "Unabomber" -
who was arrested in 1996 after David and
his wife Linda approached the FBI with their
suspicions that Ted might be involved in
the series of bombings that caused three
deaths and numerous injuries over 17 years.
Despite
his diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia,
Ted was charged capitally and only avoided
the death penalty after his family waged
a two-year campaign to convince the U.S.
Justice Department that Ted's delusions had
precipitated his violent behavior. Under
pressure from the media and advocacy groups
including the National Alliance for the Mentally
Ill, the Justice Department offered a plea
bargain that spared Ted's life, but it never
publicly acknowledged that Ted's mental illness
was a mitigating factor.
In 1998, David and
Linda received a one million dollar reward
from the Justice Department for their role
in the Unabomber investigation, which they
subsequently donated - minus attorney's fees
and taxes - to the victims and their families.
Through the Unabomber Survivors Fund, $680,000
was distributed to victims of the assaults.
Prior
to joining NYADP, David was assistant director
of the Equinox shelter for runaway and homeless
youth in Albany. As director of NYADP and
as a board member of the National Coalition
to Abolish the Death Penalty, he is currently
focused on a campaign to ban the death penalty
for people with serious mental illnesses.
David is currently writing a book on violence
and healing with Gary Wright, who was seriously
injured by one of Ted Kaczynski's bombs in
1987.
Abolition Awards
Along with the keynote
address by David Kaczynski, this year's Annual
Dinner will also feature the presentation
of two awards- one for an outstanding achievement
this past year and one for a lifetime of
work against the death penalty.
The 2006 Abolitionist
of the Year award goes to the Robert Harlan
Defense Team, for their outstanding work
in getting Harlan off of death row. Robert
Harlan was convicted
and sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder
of a casino waitress and attempted murder
of a woman who came to her aid. Although
his conviction was affirmed on direct appeal,
Kathleen Lord and Sharlene Reynolds of the
Colorado State Public Defenders Office did
an incredible job of convincing Judge Vigil
of the Adams County District Court to vacate
the death sentence because of juror misconduct.
Jurors in the case improperly brought Bibles
into the jury room and wrote down and quoted
passages from the Old Testament. Such reliance
on outside sources is strictly forbidden
and jurors are instructed accordingly. Harlan's
death sentence was overturned by the Colorado
Supreme Court on March 28, 2005, and in October,
the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the
state's appeal.
Also noteworthy is the work
of investigator Raelee Knapp. Raelee's
juror interviews were crucial to this success,
and getting jurors to talk openly like
she did is a remarkable achievement. Others
who worked on the case include Bryan Shaha,
Greg Worthen, Wayne Diffee, and the late
Terri Brake. Congratulations to this team
on a remarkable victory!
Charles Milligan
Honored
At the Annual Dinner, CADP will also honor
Charles Milligan - minister, professor, and
chair of the Colorado Council to Abolish
Capital Punishment during the 1960s - for
more than four decades of leadership in the
fight against the death penalty.
Charles, shown in the adjacent portrait,
was born in Sterling, CO, and first became
involved in prison reform issues in Massachusetts
in the 1950s, while teaching ethics at Tufts
University. In 1957 he returned to Colorado
to teach at Iliff School of Theology, where
he taught philosophy and religion until his
retirement in 1988.
In the early 1960s, Charles became increasingly
involved in the issue of the death penalty,
publishing articles in religious journals
and an essay in Hugo Bedau's classic anthology,
The Death Penalty in
America. Charles was
also the driving force behind an effort to
place a death penalty abolition referendum
on the 1966 ballot. Although the referendum
was unsuccessful, Charles and others continued
to press on, laying the groundwork for later
work.
Looking back over his many years of involvement,
Charles sees cause for optimism. "Things
are starting to move," he says, pointing
to recent shifts in public opinion on the
death penalty. "I feel more hopeful
than I ever have before.
