He’ll be there Thursday, Jan. 17, speaking at an event that’s part of a Criminal/Justice: The Death Penalty Examined series of events presented by Carolina Performing Arts.
The program begins at 7:30 PM and will be held in Memorial Hall.
Scheck is a professor of law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University and a DNA expert.
He also currently represents Reade Seligmann, one of three men indicted for gang rape and other felonies as part of a frame-up attempt in what’s often referred to as “the Duke lacrosse case.”
The North Carolina Attorney General later declared the three men innocent and said there never was any credible evidence of their guilt.
The suit names as defendants the now disbarred former Durham DA Mike Nifong, Durham City and Police, and others.
More information concerning Scheck’s Jan. 17 UNC-Chapel Hill appearance is here. (Click on “Events” on Criminal/Justice menu at right of page.)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Barry Scheck at UNC – Chapel Hill
Posted by JWM at 8:41 PM
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FYI
To: The UNC-Chapel Hill community
WHAT: “Criminal/Justice: The Death Penalty Examined” a year long study of the death penalty at UNC-Chapel Hill. Carolina Performing Arts received the $103,165 grant in April, 2007 to coordinate the project.
The public face of this project is to present a fair and even handed look at the death penalty. As the UNC-CH news release stated:
"The university has no position on capital punishment but seeks, rather, to inform debate on a complex issue that is ongoing across the country and in North Carolina." “Without in any way dictating a point of view, we nonetheless believe it is important to have a civil and informed discussion about this controversial issue." “Universities are the bedrock of free inquiry, places where beliefs are challenged and arguments are honed.”
REALITY: This project could hardly be more anti death penalty, while its pretense of fairness is a total farce. At some point, the "bedrock of free inquiry" became the bedrock of indoctrination.
REVIEW
Below is a nearly complete review of the year long events and people associated with them, with a POSITION, my commentary, after each one. Omissions, if any, were unintentional.
1) The project was undertaken in conjunction with this year’s summer reading program at UNC, This year’s book – “The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions,” by Sister Helen Prejean – was discussed in approximately 120 groups at UNC-Chapel Hill, on Aug. 20, 2007.
POSITION: The Death of Innocents is an blunt anti death penalty book wherein either willful ignorance or intentional deception was integral to the two subject cases of "innocents executed". Written by the most well known anti death penalty activist within the US, Sister Helen Prejean. Strictly indoctrination. Those who selected this book for summer reading did so either knowing of its nature or willfully ignorant of it by the lack of fact checking. Neither are good methods of selection, unless the primary purpose was to push the anti death penalty agenda, which appears obvious.
2) John Charles “Jack” Boger, dean, UNC School of Law. Member, planning committee for the project, litigated capital punishment cases for a decade while on the staff of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
POSITION: anti death penalty
3) An Evening with Nick Yarris, lecture. 8/20/08. An alleged actual innocent released from death row.
POSITION: anti death penalty.
4) After Innocence, film, 8/26/06. The story of 7 alleged actually innocent people released from death row.
POSITION: anti death penalty
5) “The Death of Innocents,” Sept. 8, a reading/play. Sister Maureen Fenlon, national coordinator for the Dead Man Walking Theatre Project, will introduce the reading.
POSITION: same as 1, above.
6) Malaquias Montoya, artist, exhibit. Fall, 2007
POSITION: actively supporting anti death penalty movement through art and donations.
7) Execution and William Neal Moore, film and presentation, Fall, 2007
POSITION: Anti death penalty. Moore is a confessed robber/murderer and former death row inmate.
8) The Ethical Issues of Capital Punishment, 10/2/07. Discussion. The Parr Center for Ethics.
Presentations by
Ryan Presley, member of the UNC Chapter of Campaign to End the Death Penalty. anti death penalty
and Caroline Elliot, a member of UNC Law Death Penalty Project, an anti death penalty project.
Panelists are:
Carl Fox, North Carolina Superior Court Judge, neutral? was elected DA 6 times. Don't know if he ever sought a death sentence. Did he?
Mark Kleinschmidt, Executive Director – The Fair Trial Initiative, Chapel Hill Town Council Member, anti death penalty.
Tony Queen, Executive Director - NC Victim Assistance Network, pro death penalty
Richard Rosen, Professor of Law at UNC School of Law, anti death penalty.
Randall Styers, Associate Professor of Religion at UNC Chapel Hill, anti death penalty.
Kristen Bell, a graduate student in Philosophy, anti death penalty
Moderator: Joe Kennedy, Professor of Law at UNC School of Law, anti death penalty
POSITION: 7 known anti death penalty participants. One known pro death penalty participant.
9) Coyote on a Fence 10/12/07, a play.
POSITION: anti death penalty
10) talk by playwright and performance artist Anna Deavere Smith. Oct. 16
POSITION: anti death penalty
11) Crime & Punishment: Rethinking the Death Penalty, 11/9-10/07. Discussion. http://www.unc.edu/depts/human/level_3/2007_fall/Crime&Punishment.htmhttp://www.unc.edu/depts/human/level_3/2007_fall/Crime&Punishment.htm
POSITION: Even the intro for this event has well known anti death penalty deceptions in it. Four participants. One might be pro death penalty.
12) “Parade,” Nov. 12-13. A play in which Leo Frank, a Jewish man, is portrayed as an innocent lynched in an anti Semitic Atlanta in the early 1900s.
POSITION: Some believe Frank to be guilty. http://theatre_chick.tripod.com/Phagan.htm
Frank's death penalty sentence was commuted to life prior to his lynching. I suspect this was meant as an anti death penalty tome, with an alleged wrongful conviction combined with lynch mob mentality, a common false portrayal of the death penalty and its supporters, often provided by the anti death penalty side. Why not put on a play of the Nuremberg trials, instead?
13) Lethal Theater Class (COMM 669) 11/28. Using Dwight Conquergood’s essay Lethal Theatre: Performance, Punishment and the Death Penalty as our inspiration, the class will explore the performance rituals of justice, punishment and state killings, creating inter-textual performances using live performance, music, movement and media.
POSITION: Based upon the essay, anti death penalty
14) Scott Langley, photo journalist, 1/0/08, photo exhibit.
POSITION: Langley is a well known anti death penalty activist. Why not an exhibit of photos of the innocent murder victim, living, then dead, in their crime scene photos? Or show the well known pictures of the slaughter in Nazi concentration camps. After all, this is why we have the death penalty, for the specific crimes.
15) Discussion by Barry Scheck and Susan Estrich, Jan. 17,
POSITION: Scheck anti. Estrich pro. COMMENT: Likely, the single attempt at balance within the entire project.
16) Facing Controversy: Struggling with Capital Punishment in North Carolina. exhibit. 1/18/08
POSITION: Unknown. But the "Controversy:Struggling" title might be an indicator.
17) “Perspectives on Public Justice,” exhibition, Jan. 18 - May 4, Ackland Art Museum, displaying works of art that engage the theme of justice, presented by the Ackland and students and instructors from the writing program at UNC, who will help organize and interpret the exhibition.
POSITION: Unknown
18) The Death Penalty in North Carolina. 2/5/08 discussion. participant: Seth Kotch, UNC-CH history graduate student, anti death penalty. Prof. Trina Seitz, Appalachian State University. NC death penalty historian. Position unknown. N.C. Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, well known anti death penalty.
POSITION: Two anti death penalty speakers. One unknown and, maybe, leaning anti death penalty.
19) Doin' Time: Through The Visiting Glass, one woman play by daughter of incarcerated man. 2/8/08 - 8:00 PM
POSITION: Very sympathetic to criminals. Interviewed 400 incarcerated persons. Unknown if any of their victims or victim survivors were interviewed. It wasn't mentioned. Presume anti death penalty.
20) “Spectacular Justice,” March 17. a media presentation by Joyce Rudinsky, associate professor of communication studies, spring 2008. video and audio recordings and images that will surround the viewer, offering thoughts about capital punishment.
POSITION: Unknown. Will they show pictures and videos of the innocent murder victims and describe their lives and dreams that were snuffed out? Will interviews of pro death penalty victim survivors be shown and heard? I am doubtful. We'll see. It must, if fair. Some forget: the crimes and murder victims are the reason the death penalty is imposed.
21) Sister Helen Prejean. lecture, Feb. 25
POSITION: She and her work get five separate, major presentations in this year long project, all, virtually, uncontested and unchallenged - summer reading for incoming freshman, 120 discussion groups at school, a reading of Death Of Innocents, a solo talk by Prejean and multiple presentations of the play, "Dead Man Walking".
22) Still Life, play, 3/26-4/6
POSITION: presented by The Justice Theater Project, a partner with People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, one of the most anti death penalty groups in NC. The Justice Theater Project is dedicated to the social teachings of the Catholic Church, whose US Bishops have an active campaign against the death penalty. Obviously, anti death penalty.
23) “Dead Man Walking,” a play. April 18-22.
POSITION: A play adaptation, by actor/director Tim Robbins of Prejean's "Dead Man Walking" book. Both anti death penalty activists.
24) “Witness to an Execution,” play, April 23-27, "Inspired by a series of surprisingly candid and chilling interviews that tell the story of death row in the infamous Texas prison system."
POSITION: Anti death penalty. I presume that pro death penalty victim survivors will not be presented.
CONCLUSION
Why don't anti death penalty institutions, such as UNCCH, put on a truly honest and balanced presentation?
(1) They believe free discussion is based upon freely discussing what they believe - In this case, the anti death penalty position. It is known as the freedom of indoctrination.
(2) An even balance of ideas and discussion would favor the pro death penalty side. Therefore, some institutions insist their presentations are fair, when, in fact, any neutral person can easily see they are not. Based upon their bias, they cannot have a truly balanced presentation.
Will this email change anything at UNCCH? Of course not. See 1 and 2, above.
Being quixotic, I encourage you to distribute this to the student body, faculty and staff at the UNC-CH.
FROM: Dudley Sharp, Justice Matters
email sharpjfa@aol.com, phone 713-622-5491
Houston, Texas
Mr. Sharp has appeared on ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, NBC, NPR, PBS and many other TV and radio networks, on such programs as Nightline, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, The O'Reilly Factor, etc., has been quoted in newspapers throughout the world and is a published author.
A former opponent of capital punishment, he has written and granted interviews about, testified on and debated the subject of the death penalty, extensively and internationally.
Pro death penalty sites
homicidesurvivors(dot)com/categories/Dudley%20Sharp%20-%20Justice%20Matters.aspx
www(dot)dpinfo.com
www(dot)cjlf.org/deathpenalty/DPinformation.htm
www(dot)clarkprosecutor.org/html/links/dplinks.htm
joshmarquis(dot)blogspot.com/
www(dot)lexingtonprosecutor.com/death_penalty_debate.htm
www(dot)prodeathpenalty.com
www(dot)yesdeathpenalty.com/deathpenalty_contents.htm (Sweden)
Permission for distribution of this document is encouraged, with the request that it is distributed in its entirety, without changes, inclusive of this statement.
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