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URGENT ACTION

Alabama sets execution of 70-year-old man 

Thomas Arthur, aged 70, is scheduled to be executed in the US state of Alabama on 29 March for a murder committed in 1982. He has been on death row for more than 25 years.

On 1 February 1982, police were called to the home in north-western Alabama of Judy and Troy Wicker. Troy Wicker, aged 35, had been killed by a single shot through his right eye. Four bullet casings were found at the scene. Judy Wicker was lying injured and had traces of blood on her. Her sister Teresa Rowland was kneeling beside her. Judy Wicker told police that she had come home to find an African American man in the house, that he had raped her, and shot her husband. The murder weapon was never found.

Judy Wicker was charged with committing the murder to collect the insurance proceeds, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Thomas Douglas Arthur was accused of the actual shooting and charged with capital murder because he had a previous murder conviction. In 1983, he was sentenced to death. His conviction was overturned in 1985 due to improper admission of evidence. He was sentenced to death at a retrial in 1987. In 1990 his conviction was again overturned because of improper admission of evidence. The parole board was asked if Judy Wicker might be released early in exchange for her testimony against Thomas Arthur at his retrial. At this meeting with the board, Judy Wicker was represented by a lawyer who was subsequently hired as a prosecutor and represented the state at this retrial. The state’s main witness at this trial was Judy Wicker, the prosecutor’s former client whose testimony the prosecution had sought in return for assistance with her parole bid. Judy Wicker was paroled about a year after Thomas Arthur’s 1991 retrial, having served 10 years in prison.

At her own trial in 1982, Judy Wicker had testified that Thomas Arthur was not involved in the murder, but that a burglar had killed her husband. This was what she had told the police at the time of the murder. However, at Arthur’s 1991 retrial, she testified that in 1981, she, Teresa Rowland and Rowland’s boyfriend, Theron McKinney, had discussed killing Troy Wicker. She testified that she knew that the murder would take place on 1 February 1982, that she and Thomas Arthur had gone to the house together, and that she had agreed to tell the police that her husband had been murdered by an African American burglar. She said that she collected $90,000 in insurance proceeds, and that she paid $10,000 to Thomas Arthur and $6,000 to Teresa Rowland, and gave a car and jewellery to Theron McKinney for their assistance in the murder. Neither Rowland nor McKinney was prosecuted.

Thomas Arthur maintains his innocence. There is no physical evidence against him. He is not seeking executive clemency, but continues to seek DNA testing of crime scene evidence to confirm the sworn statement of another inmate who claims to have killed Troy Wicker but which a state court has dismissed as a lie (see overleaf).

Please write immediately, in English or your own language:

n      Explaining that you are not seeking to excuse violent crime or to minimize the suffering caused by it;

n      Expressing concern that the state continues to block Thomas Arthur’s request for advanced DNA testing;

n      Urging the Governor to prevent the execution of Thomas Arthur, who has been on death row for over 25 years.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 29 MARCH 2012 TO:

Governor Robert Bentley

State Capitol, 600 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36130, USA

Fax: +1 334 353 0004

Salutation: Dear Governor

Send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:

Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address SalutationSalutation

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.