by Askia Muhammad
White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com)�The governors of the 38 states which still permit capital punishment should declare a moratorium to prevent the execution of innocent people, death penalty opponents argued as the 100th innocent prisoner was freed from death row April 8.

"Our nation this week reached an infamous milestone: 100 known�and goodness only knows how many unknown�cases of people being sentenced to death since the reinstatement of capital punishment, for crimes they did not commit," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said following the release of Ray Krone from Arizona State Prison in Yuma. Mr. Krone was exonerated by DNA evidence.

The 100 prisoners who have been freed from death row since 1976�mostly after DNA evidence conclusively proved their innocence�represent the exception rather than the rule in the U.S. capital punishment system, according to William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA).

"Meanwhile other innocent people awaiting their executions on death row may be erroneously killed," Mr. Schulz said in a statement. "U.S. governors must acknowledge the inherent flaws in the system, and call for an indefinite halt to executions in their states or risk blood on their hands."

The release of Mr. Krone "makes the case" for federal legislation calling for a moratorium on all executions, such as the legislation proposed by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.).
"We have almost certainly put innocent people to death in the past, and if we don�t institute the moratorium, we are almost certain to put more innocent people to death in the future," Frank Watkins, spokesman for Rep. Jackson told The Final Call. "Clearly, the state should not be in the business of murder."

The people executed in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States accounted for 90 percent of all known executions in 2001, according to a report: "The Death Penalty Worldwide: Developments in 2001," released by Amnesty International to coincide with Mr. Krone�s release.

The number of executions last year was up sharply, according to the report. More than 3,048 people were executed in 31 countries in 2001, which is more than double the figure of 1,457 for 2000.

In the last year, 21 states have considered legislation curtailing the use of the death penalty. Eighteen states have introduced legislation calling for a moratorium, and last year five states banned the execution of the mentally retarded. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider capital cases involving incompetent counsel and the execution of the mentally retarded during the 2001-2002 session.

"The time for denial is over. The system did not work for Ray Krone in his first trial, or in his second," said Sen. Leahy, author of the Innocence Protection Act. "Ray Krone lost 10 years of his life while Arizona�s women were endangered because the wrong man was in jail. We need strong national safeguards for truth�a federal guarantee of competent counsel and of DNA testing wherever relevant." Sen. Leahy�s bipartisan Innocence Protection Act, which has been pending before the Congress for nearly two years, calls for those two provisions.

Meanwhile, more than half of the countries of the world have recognized that state-sanctioned executions violate international human rights standards. In stark contrast, the United States has executed more than 750 prisoners since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty, 600 of them since 1990, during which time 60 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

Also since 1976, 100 people have been found innocent and were released from death row�some within hours of being executed. Thus, for every six persons put to death, one person (14 percent) has been found to have been wrongfully convicted.