US/Pennsylvania: Commute Terrance Williams' Death Sentence

William Nicholas Gomes appeals for the life of a death row inmate in Pennsylvania.

Terrance Williams had just turned 18 at the time of his crime, photo courtesy: The Crash Culture

(SALEM) - How could it be that the U.S. state known for its role in the Revolutionary War; where the Marine Corps and so many other important organizations and national documents were drafted, be a national embarrassment with regard to courtroom practices?

Pennsylvania is the only U.S. state that makes a practice of not informing juries that the alternative to a death sentence is a life without parole sentence. To this day, Pennsylvania continues to withhold this information from juries.

It's bad news for Terrance Williams, a man on death row for a crime he committed just after turning 18.

In his letter to Jim Cawley, Lieutenant Governor and Chairman, Pennsylvania Board of Pardons in Harrisburg, our Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes cites the large number of reasons that the death penalty is failing to make sense today, more than ever.

Black men being put to death... statistics show that they are more likely to be executed than those of other races and if the victim in a crime is White and the suspect Black, the odds that they will face the death penalty rises incrementally, according to statistics.

There are many reasons that people lose control of their actions and turn to violence and crime. In the case of Terrance Williams, we are discussing the life of a terribly abused child who was made keenly aware of the impact violence carries. It is time for this state of such major American history to raise the bar and spare the life of this man who is as much a victim of this society, as he is a threat to it.

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The Honorable Jim Cawley Lieutenant Governor Chairman, Pennsylvania Board of Pardons 333 Market Street, 15th Floor Harrisburg, PA 17126 Re: Support for commutation of sentence of Terrance Williams Dear Lieutenant Governor Cawley: I am William Nicholas Gomes Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com. I came to know about the situation from a letter written by Antonio Ginatta, Advocacy Director, US Program of Human Rights Watch. I do agree with the point raised in that letter. I am sharing my concern on the situation. I write to urge you to commute the death sentence of Terrance Williams. The cornerstone of human rights is respect for the inherent dignity of all human beings and the inviolability of the human person. Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all countries and in all circumstances because the death penalty is inconsistent with the inherent dignity of the person. Those responsible for serious crimes should be fairly and appropriately held accountable, and the victims of crimes and their families should have access to justice and redress. But it is increasingly recognized around the world that the death penalty is not a just sentence, as it is inevitably plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error. In addition, there are compelling arguments for clemency in Williams’ case. As a child, Williams was the victim of horrific physical and sexual abuse. Moreover, at the time of his crime, he was barely 18-years old; the minimum age for someone to receive the death penalty in the United States. As the Supreme Court has recognized in multiple decisions, there are critical differences between juveniles and adults in terms of maturity, impulsiveness, risk-taking, and vulnerability to outside influences, and therefore the level of culpability for their actions. When it comes to matters of crime and punishment, decision-makers should take into account the age of the offender. While Williams was technically an adult, his relative youth and history of abuse are certainly powerful mitigating factors that should be considered in sentencing. I would also like to express grave concern over Pennsylvania’s practice of not informing juries that the alternative to the death sentence is a life without parole sentence. Pennsylvania continues to be the only state in the nation to withhold this information from juries. Juries should not be required to make life or death decisions on the basis of incomplete information, as it appears may have happened in Williams’ case. For these reasons, I strongly urge you commute the sentence of Terrance Williams. Sincerely, William Nicholas Gomes Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.combr>www.williamnicholasgomes.org www.williamgomes.org cc: Members of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons: The Honorable Linda L. Kelly, Attorney General The Honorable Louise B. Williams The Honorable Russell A. Walsh, Ph.D. The Honorable Harris Gubernick

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Salem-News.com Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes is a Bangladeshi journalist, human rights activist and author was born on 25 December, 1985 in Dhaka. As an investigative journalist he wrote widely for leading European and Asian media outlets.

He is also active in advocating for free and independent media and journalists’ rights, and is part of the free media movement, Global Independent Media Center – an activist media network for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate telling of the truth. He worked for Italian news agency Asianews.it from year 2009 to 2011, on that time he was accredited as a free lance journalist by the press information department of Bangladesh. During this time he has reported a notable numbers of reports for the news agency which were translated into Chinese and Italian and quoted by notable number of new outlets all over the world.He, ideologically, identifies himself deeply attached with anarchism. His political views are often characterized as “leftist” or “left-wing,” and he has described himself as an individualist anarchist.