USA (North Carolina): Joseph Timothy Keel (m), white, aged 39

Joseph Timothy (Timmy) Keel is scheduled to be executed in North Carolina on 7 November. He was sentenced to death at a retrial in 1993 for the murder of his father-in-law, John Simmons, who was shot on his farm in 1990.

Timmy Keel suffers from mental impairment. His IQ has been measured in the borderline mental retardation range; he has been diagnosed with organic brain damage, possibly as a result of a pre-natal injury; he sustained several subsequent brain injuries, including when he was eight and 16 years old, and also as an adult, including one workplace accident where he was hit on the head by a 1,600 pound steel beam. He also has a history of other mental problems, including auditory hallucinations, which have required treatment with anti-psychotic medication.

At the time of the crime Timmy Keel was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol. He has a long history of alcohol abuse. He began to drink regularly at the age of 11 with the encouragement of his alcoholic uncles. Shortly after he turned 20, his parents had him committed to a mental health treatment program after he began having blackouts, during which he would act bizarrely. On several occasions he slashed himself with razor blades or knives.

A neuropsychologist has concluded that due to these brain injuries, developmental disabilities and history of alcohol abuse, Timmy Keel did not develop intellectually, emotionally and socially beyond the level of a fifth grader (a 10 or 11-year-old child).

In repeated resolutions in recent years, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights has called for an end to the use of the death penalty against anyone suffering from any form of mental disorder. Timmy Keel has a 13-year-old son with whom he remains very close.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally. Every death sentence is an affront to human dignity, and every execution is a symptom of a culture of violence, not a solution to it.

Today 112 countries are abolitionist in law or practice. In contrast, the USA has put 877 men and women to death since resuming executions in 1977. The vast majority of these executions have been carried out in the past decade. There have been 57 executions in the USA so far this year.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language, in your own words:

• explaining that you are not seeking to condone the manner of John Simmons’ death or the suffering it will have caused;

• opposing the execution of Joseph Timothy Keel;

• pointing out repeated resolutions at the United Nations calling on all countries to desist from using the death penalty against anyone suffering from any form of mental disorder, and noting evidence that Joseph Timothy Keel suffers from serious mental disabilities;

• urging the Governor to grant clemency to Joseph Timothy Keel in the interest of decency and the reputation of the State of North Carolina.

APPEALS TO:

Governor Michael F. Easley
Office of the Governor
20301 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-0301, USA
Email: clemency@ncmail.net
Fax: 001 919 715 3175 / 733 2120
Salutation: Dear Governor

COPIES TO:

The People’s Forum
Raleigh News and Observer
PO Box 191, Raleigh, NC 27602, USA.
Fax: 001 919 829 4872
E-mail: forum@newsobserver.com

Kanzlei der Botschaft der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika
Neustädtische Kirchstr. 4 – 5, 10117 Berlin
(S. E.Herrn Daniel Coats)
Telefax: 030-238 6290

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.