Tides Foundation/Death Penalty Mobilization Fund
Fall 2017 Requests for Proposals
Severe Mental Illness Exclusion Campaign
Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
August 2, 2017
PROPOSAL NARRATIVE
Summary Paragraph
a) By 2020 VADP will develop enough support for a legislative debate about
death penalty abolition. In the interim Republicans will introduce reform
bills recommended by the 2013 ABA Virginia Death Penalty Assessment
Team. This debate in the next few years will reveal flaws in the capital
system and move legislators toward abolition.
DPMF funding will enable VADP to continue its campaign to pass severe
mental illness (SMI) exclusion legislation. In 2017 our SMI bill failed to
pass in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee by a single vote. We
are confident that our educational work in key legislative districts in the
interim will result in greater support in the 2018 legislative session.
Organization Background
b) History: On November 9, 1991, a steering committee of 13 committed
Cc.
citizens gathered and formed Virginians Against State Killing. In 1994
the organization’s name was changed to Virginians for Alternatives to
the Death Penalty (VADP).
In its early years VADP was an “outsider” group, focused on protest
against the frequent use of capital punishment. Then board chair Jon
Sheldon led a process that transformed VADP into an “insider”
organization with a more professional structure and expertise that has
earned bipartisan credibility with the media, legislators, and
administration officials.
Mission and Values: VADP is a citizens’ organization dedicated to
educating the public about alternatives to the death penalty. Our goal is
to end capital punishment in Virginia through education, organizing, and
advocacy. Our key organizational value is bipartisanship.
Proposal
d) Description of Work: Campaign strategy is focused on education,
organizing, and advocacy.
Goal 1: Educate Virginians about the death penalty and the SMI
exemption legislation
Fall 2017 DPMF Application Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
Objective 1: Meet with local faith, business, and civic leaders in eight
key districts and identify conservative supporters for the
SMI exemption legislation.
Thanks to a new grant from the Bon Secours Sisters,
VADP hired a full-time Field Director in May 2017 to
work in eight key legislative districts. Thus far the Field
Director has spent at least one week each in three of
these target districts. He has met approximately fifty
local leaders and identified several allies in two districts
willing to work with VADP.
Our goal is to identify 5-10 leaders in each district to meet
with legislators after the November election and before
the 2018 General Assembly.
Objective 2: Give presentations on the death penalty and the SMI
exemption legislation in at least three of the eight target
legislative districts
The VADP Field Director has already identified three
possible sites for these educational sessions. The first is
Chatham Baptist Church whose pastor, Rev. Charles
Warnock, is very supportive. This is the church of Del.
Les Adams. The second is Main Street Baptist Church in
Luray whose pastor, Rev. Kevin Ly, also supports the
SMI exemption (district of Del. Todd Gilbert). The third
is the Warren Coalition, a mental health and addiction
treatment coalition in the Shenandoah Valley (district of
Del. Chris Collins).
Objective 3: Present information about SMI legislation at five regional
VADP meetings
Five regional meetings will be held in Norfolk, Richmond,
Charlottesville, Roanoke, and northern Virginia between
October 11 and November 16, 2017. We will soon
schedule those meeting dates.
Objective 4: Circulate two sign-on letters in support of the SMI
exemption - one for conservative leaders and another for
murder victim family members
The VADP Executive Director will prepare a sign-on letter
for conservatives in collaboration with the American Bar
Association and Conservatives Concerned About the
Death Penalty. Our goal is to get at least ten prominent
conservative leaders in Virginia to endorse the
legislation.
VADP has already drafted a sign-on letter for murder
victim family members. Beth Hilscher, the mother of a
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Fall 2017 DPMF Application Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
college student murdered in the Virginia Tech massacre,
worked on the draft in addition to staff from the
American Bar Association. Our goal is to get at least ten
murder victim family members to sign the letter. In
addition to Beth Hilscher, the daughter of a murdered
state trooper and father of a murder victim have
reviewed the letter and have expressed their support.
Goal 2: Convene VADP supporters to provide opportunities for education
and advocacy
Objective 1: Host a VADP 26th anniversary awards luncheon
VADP has scheduled this event for Saturday, October 14,
2017 at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Reston.
Awards for Citizen Advocate of the Year (Rob Lee,
Executive Director of the Virginia Capital Representation
Resource Center) and Legislator of the Year (Del. David
Albo of Springfield) will be honored at this luncheon.
David Bruck, Capital Defense Attorney and Director of
the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse, will give the
keynote address.
Objective 2: Organize a series of five VADP regional meetings in the
fall of 2017 and spring of 2018
VADP Executive Director Michael Stone initiated regional
meetings in 2015. The autumn sessions provide
education on priorities for the following year’s legislative
session and encourage VADP supporters to be involved in
advocacy with their state Delegates and Senators.
The spring sessions present the results of the legislative
session and encourage VADP supporters to be involved in
death penalty educational work in their localities. These
regional meetings also help identify new leaders for local
action and potential board membership.
Goal 3: Provide opportunities for VADP supporters to be involved in
legislative advocacy
Objective 1: Convene regular meetings of the death penalty
legislative coalition partners
VADP convenes meetings with its partners - the Virginia
Catholic Conference, ACLU of Virginia, NAMI Virginia,
and other VASMIE members - to agree on a common
legislative agenda, plan strategy, coordinate actions, and
evaluate its joint efforts.
Fall 2017 DPMF Application Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
Objective 2: Organize visits with eight legislators in their home
districts with constituents from VADP as well as our
coalition partners
Given our experience in the past two legislative sessions,
the Virginia death penalty and SMI legislative coalition
identified 8 key legislators for meetings in their home
districts to ask their support for the SMI bill. The VADP
Field Director is identifying local leaders to participate in
these eight meetings before the 2018 General Assembly.
These target legislators are: Delegates Les Adams
(Chatham), Ben Cline (Amherst), Chris Collins
(Winchester), and Todd Gilbert (Woodstock) as well as
Senators Ben Chafin (Lebanon), Mark Peake
(Lynchburg), Bill Stanley (Moneta), and Glen Sturtevant
(Richmond).
Objective 3: Meet with at least six newspaper editorial boards and
seek publication of at least three SMI op-eds and editorials
in favor for the SMI bill.
Our coalition is approaching possible authors for SMI op-
eds targeted for two major newspapers: Pete Earley for
the Washington Post and Dr. James Reinhard for the
Roanoke Times.
We will also contact newspapers that serve our target
legislative districts: Martinsville Bulletin, Danville Bee,
Winchester Star, Daily News-Record (Harrisonburg),
Staunton News Leader, News & Advance (Lynchburg),
and Bristol Herald Courier.
Objective 4: Send action alerts to VADP supporters during the General
Assembly session and in response to execution dates.
During the 2018 session VADP will send e-mail action
alerts on the SMI exemption bill and any pro-death
penalty legislation at key times in the legislative process.
The VADP database already has 3,732 supporters in
Virginia with 1,688 e-mail addresses.
Our Blue State Digital database enables VADP to send e-
mail blasts to all Virginia supporters or to individuals in
specific legislative districts. VADP’s web site hosts
action alerts that generate customizable messages to
Virginia legislators.
e) Local Opportunities: Several important trends in Virginia present
opportunities for VADP and its partner organizations to make significant
progress toward abolition in coming years.
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Fall 2017 DPMF Application Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
First, there have been no death sentences in Virginia since September
2011. There have been nearly 1,800 murders since then and no jury has
returned a death sentence, not even for John Ragin and Jesse Mathews
who were convicted of multiple highly publicized crimes. In the summer
2017 Russell Brown III received a life sentence for killing a state trooper.
Second, death penalty supporters have ceased efforts to expand the
death penalty after VADP and its partners successfully blocked proposals
to repeal the “triggerman rule” in four consecutive legislative sessions.
No expansion legislation has been introduced in four years.
Third, votes in the last two legislative sessions on the electric chair and
execution drug secrecy measures revealed a core group of six
Republican legislators who have consistently voted against death penalty
bills. A much larger group of Republican Delegates and Senators have
mixed voting records on similar execution method bills. Individual
meetings with these legislators by VADP and its partner organizations
have shown deep ambivalence about the death penalty with serious
concern expressed about executing an innocent person.
Fourth, Republican leaders are increasingly willing to express public
opposition to capital punishment. Thus far seven prominent Virginia
Republicans have signed a penalty statement rooted in conservative
political principles, including a former Attorney General, a former
Executive Director of the Republican Party of Virginia, and a former
member of Congress.
Several Republican legislators have told VADP and its partner
organizations that op-eds written by conservative leaders Shaun Kenney
and Kevin Walsh in 2016 strongly influenced them to vote against the
Governor’s execution drug secrecy proposal.
Prior to the 2017 legislative session, VADP and its partners placed three
op-eds in support of SMI exemption legislation. These op-eds appeared
in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jefferson Institute for Public Policy e-
newsletter, and the Virginian Pilot.
VADP will mobilize constituents to meet with key Republican legislators
to enlist their support for the SMI bill. We also will recruit more
conservative leaders to publicly oppose capital punishment. Finally, we
will place more op-eds supporting the SMI exemption in newspapers that
circulate within target legislative districts.
f) Implementation: The results of the 2017 legislative session illustrate
the opportunities and challenges as well as the political landscape for the
abolition movement in Virginia.
i. Severe Mental Illness Legislation:
Fall 2017 DPMF Application Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
This was the second year of our coalition’s campaign to pass SMI
exclusion legislation.
Delegate Jay Leftwich - a conservative Republican from Chesapeake -
again agreed to be the House patron of the SMI bill. He personally
lobbied members of the House Criminal Law Subcommittee, identified
subcommittee members on the fence about the bill, and asked the
coalition to organize grassroots support in their legislative districts.
Supporters of the SMI exemption won a short-lived victory when Del.
David Albo, chair of the House Courts of Justice Committee, supported
the bill.
Despite his endorsement, we fell just one vote short in the Criminal
Law Subcommittee. All three Democrats and two Republican
Delegates - Chris Collins (Winchester) and committee chair David
Albo (Springfield) - supported the legislation. We had hoped that a
pre-session meeting of a local pastor with Del. Les Adams
(Martinsville) would produce the vote needed to move the bill
forward, but Adams voted against the measure.
We had enough advance notice to get two experts to testify at a
hearing before the full House Courts of Justice Committee despite the
negative recommendation from the Criminal Law Subcommittee. It
appeared that our chief nemesis, Subcommittee Chair Del Rob Bell,
came to understand the very real problem of Virginia’s failed insanity
defense and how the SMI exemption ameliorates that problem in
capital cases.
The Virginia Association of Commonwealth's Attorneys again opposed
the SMI legislation. To move forward, we will need to identify
prosecutors who support the SMI exemption and ask the Association
to take no position on the bill next year.
The SMI exemption legislation received a “no fiscal impact” report
from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. This finding
is significant because legislation can be defeated by mere suspicion of
a fiscal impact.
VADP and its partners were unsuccessful in recruiting a Republican to
sponsor the SMI bill in the Senate. We had hoped that Sen. Glen
Sturtevant (Richmond) would agree to be the patron. But his standing
with the party had been damaged by his opposition to the leadership
last year in filling a vacant state Supreme Court seat. Sturtevant did
not feel that he could patron a controversial measure like the SMI bill
in the 2017 session.
The bill was introduced by Sen. Barbara Favola, a Democrat from
northern Virginia, without the knowledge of VADP or its partners. We
did not want the SMI exemption to be perceived as a partisan issue.
Fall 2017 DPMF Application Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
ii.
There was a brief hearing on the bill before the Senate Courts of
Justice Committee and it was defeated on a party line vote, as
expected. However, Virginia Senators heard about the SMI
exemption issue for the first time.
Unfortunately, House Courts of Justice Committee Chair Del. David
Albo announced his retirement from the legislature at the April veto
session. Next year the Committee will most likely be chaired by a far
less supportive legislator - Del. Rob Bell, an avid death penalty
supporter. Depending on the November election results, several new
legislators could be appointed to this key committee who might be
more supportive of the SMI bill.
After the election, we will send the VADP Field Director to work in the
districts of legislators newly appointed to the House Courts of Justice
Committee after the election.
Only House members are up for reelection this year, so the
membership of the Courts of Justice Committee should remain
unchanged.
Executions in 2017:
In the first six months of 2017 the Commonwealth of Virginia set
execution dates for Ricky Gray in January, Ivan Teleguz in April, and
William Morva in July. This was the first year since 2010 that more
than a single execution had been scheduled. These were old cases
since there have been no new death sentence in Virginia since
September 2011.
VADP partnered with other organizations in extensive clemency
campaigns on behalf of all three men. We worked closely with the
legal teams for each death row inmate in messaging, coordination of
educational programs, and media work.
The most difficult case was that of Ricky Javon Gray who participated
in killing a family of four in Richmond, including two young girls. The
horrific details of his case were shamelessly exploited in 2016 by
legislators in efforts to reinstate the electric chair as the primary
execution method. Since his execution date was set during the 2017
legislative session in January, it was difficult for VADP and its
partners to participate fully and vigorously in that clemency
campaign. Gray was executed, as expected.
There were serious innocence questions raised in the Ivan Teleguz
case. VADP worked with Conservatives Concerned About the Death
Penalty on a sign-on letter for Virginia conservatives, urging the
Governor to grant clemency. The letter received strong media
coverage and was the basis of a Richmond Times-Dispatch lead
Fall 2017 DPMF Application Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
editorial that urged Gov. McAuliffe to grant clemency to Teleguz.
VADP also worked with the Virginia Council of Churches on a press
conference and procession by religious leaders to the Governor's
office to deliver letters urging him to grant clemency. Ultimately,
these efforts were successful.
This victory in April was soon followed by another clemency campaign
for William Morva. The involvement of the mental health community
was an essential component of this effort. The clemency argument
hinged on whether Morva suffered from severe mental illness when he
killed a hospital security guard and a sheriff's deputy during an
escape from custody.
VADP worked on public education programs with Morva’s legal team
in Williamsburg, Richmond, and northern Virginia. His case was also
the focus of “Virginia Night” at the annual Fast & Vigil at the U.S.
Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the Governor ignored mountains of
appeals and denied clemency to Morva who was executed in July.
VADP asked its members to send messages to Governor McAuliffe,
urging him to spare the lives of those three men. VADP supporters
sent 442 messages in support of Gray, 393 for Teleguz, and 382 for
Morva. Other supporters made phone calls that our database could
not track.
g) Benchmarks: Below are the primary benchmarks that VADP will use to
evaluate the progress of the work on this grant.
Fall 2017 DPMF Application Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
Benchmark Desired Outcome Timing
Education Meet local faith, business, and August to
civic leaders in eight key December 2017
legislative districts
Give talks on the DP and SMI September to
exemption in three of the eight | December 2017
target districts
Meet with at least three October to
newspaper editorial boards December 2017
Arrange the publication of three November &
SMI op-eds in major December 2017
newspapers
Get at least three newspaper January 2018
editorials in support of the SMI
bill
Legislation Identify a Republican patron for | November 2017
a Senate version of the SMI
bill
Organize constituent meetings November 2017
with legislators in eight target | to January 2018
districts
Circulate sign-on letters September to
supporting the SMI bill - one December 2017
for conservatives and one for
murder victim family members
Pass the SMI bill in both the February 2018
House and Senate Courts of
Justice Committees
Relationships | Meet with VADP supporters at Fall 2017 &
five regional meetings Spring 2018
Recruit 20 new supporters each Ongoing
month via personal meetings,
social media, web site, and
educational programs
Identify at least five new Ongoing
“unlikely” allies to work with
VADP
Fundraising Meet individually with at least At least two each
25 potential major donors month
Fall 2017 DPMF Application Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
Benchmark
Desired Outcome
Timing
Education
Meet local faith, business, and
civic leaders in eight key
legislative districts
August to
December 2017
Give talks on the DP and SMI
exemption in three of the eight
target districts
September to
December 2017
Meet with at least three
newspaper editorial boards
October to
December 2017
Arrange the publication of three
SMI op-eds in major
newspapers
November &
December 2017
Get at least three newspaper
editorials in support of the SMI
bill
January 2018
Organize at least four “friend-
raising” events hosted by
VADP supporters
Two in the fall &
two in the spring
Encourage at least three new
faith communities to provide
financial support to VADP
Meet at least
one faith
community
leader each
month
VADP’s board of directors will evaluate these benchmarks at board
meetings. Programmatic adjustments will be made to keep the
organization on track with these goals.
h) National Strategy: VADP seeks to move Virginia further toward de
facto abolition, as measured by the three indicators outlined in the
national abolition strategy:
** No executions in the last 10 years (Virginia has 12, but only 3 in the
past three years);
“> No more than 15 new death sentences in the last 10 years (Virginia
has issued 3 death sentences in that time, but none in nearly six
years); and
“ Fewer than 15 people on death row (Virginia currently has only 4 on
death row).
VADP coordinates its work with the Eighth Amendment Project, the
major national organization devoted to death penalty abolition. We
hosted Henderson Hill, Executive Director, to give the keynote address
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Fall 2017 DPMF Application Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
a.
at our 25th anniversary awards luncheon in 2016. Currently, we invite
Stefanie Faucher, Communications Director, to participate in our
Virginia legislative coalition meetings.
VADP and its partners work closely with the Serious Mental Illness
Initiative of the American Bar Association. Aurélie Tabuteau Mangels
(ABA Mental Illness Initiative Fellow) and Misty Thomas (Director of the
ABA Death Penalty Due Process Review Project) have played key roles in
in the Virginia SMI campaign. They participate in all of our legislative
coalition meetings and have provided invaluable assistance in drafting
SMI op-eds and other public statements on the issue.
Our state coalition includes VADP, the Virginia Catholic Conference,
ACLU of Virginia, and NAMI Virginia. Leaders from other mental health
organizations also participate in our work on the SMI bill - Mental
Health America of Virginia, National Association of Social Workers,
DisAbility Law Center, and Virginia Counselors Association.
Fundraising: VADP participated in the first cohort of the Tides
Foundation 2016 Capacity Building Grant Program, and will continue in
its 2017 program. The Suddes Group provided coaching as well as a
training session for VADP board members. The VADP Executive Director
will participate in national fundraising training in Ohio on September 18-
20, 2017.
For many years VADP has sent a fundraising appeal to its supporters
twice each year. The proceeds have generated most individual giving to
the organization.
For the past two years VADP has mailed a copy of our annual report to
major donors. This was intended as a “thank you” to our best
supporters, and we included a donation envelope. This “soft ask”
generated $3,900 in donations in 2016 and $2,750 in 2017.
In the past two years VADP has held six “friend-raisers” in Herndon,
Richmond, Roanoke, Washington (DC), Norfolk, and Charlottesville.
These events have generally not generated significant donations, except
for the most recent one which resulted in a first-time $5,000 donation.
We have signed up 30-35 new people with the capacity to be major
donors. Three new board members were identified at these events and
another two will join the VADP board in September 2017.
Plans for other “friend-raisers” are underway for northern Virginia and
Charlottesville, but dates have not yet been scheduled.
Likelihood of Success: VADP has strong legislative coalition partners
in the Virginia Catholic Conference, ACLU of Virginia, and NAMI
Virginia. In addition, we have beneficial relationships with national
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Fall 2017 DPMF Application Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
partners as well as Virginia’s death penalty defense attorneys and
litigators.
We have a superb Republican champion in the House of Delegates for
the SMI bill (Del. Jay Leftwich). We have also identified several potential
Republican Senate patrons. Many Democrats in the House and Senate
are opposed to the death penalty, and we have excellent champions in
Del. Marcus Simon and Sen. Scott Surovell. We also have a strong
relationship with the Black Caucus.
Our coalition’s influence in the General Assembly has grown steadily.
We are well positioned to become even more effective as we join with
new Republican allies in the coming years.
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