The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers decries Gov. Davis' denial of clemency for Manny Babbitt. Sentencing Mr. Babbitt to death and denying clemency for him violates international laws and customs. International law urges all nations "Not to impose the death penalty on persons suffering from any sort of mental illness, or to execute any such persons." Mr. Babbitt has been diagnosed as suffering from a mental illness and has been confined to a mental institution because of it. Manny Babbitt is an African American who was represented by a criminal defense lawyer who was racially prejudiced, and who assisted in excluding all of the members of Mr. Babbitt's race from the jury. In his treatment of Mr. Babbitt, Gov. Davis has violated the law of nations in the standard of international human rights. Mr. Babbitt is also a decorated Vietnam Veteran where testimony was provided that at the Battle of Caisson, he sacrificed his personal safety to save others. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from that event and the execution of this individual is a serious affront to our sense of decency.
San Francisco, California
