Stephen West, aged 48, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Tuesday November 9th 2010 in the US state of Tennessee. The United States Supreme Court has refused to review his case despite new evidence being available which clearly shows that Stephen is not guilty of the crime for which he is to be put to death. Please support his request for clemency by signing this petition and also by writing to :-
Governor Phil Bredesen
Governor's Office
Tennessee State Capitol
Nashville, TN 37243-0001
Phone: 615.741.2001
Fax: 615.532.9711
Email: Phil.Bredesen@tn.gov
We the undersigned respectfully request that you grant clemency to Stephen M West who is scheduled to be executed on November 9th 2010.
Stephen's co-defendant, who has stated that he alone killed the victims, is serving a life sentence. Stephen's failure to intervene has been proved to be due to the effects of severe childhood abuse which causes him to freeze in stressful situations such as when the crimes were being committed. The mitigating evidence of childhood abuse was never considered by the jury, nor the fact that the co-defendant had confessed to the crimes and stated that Stephen did not murder the victims. In March 2010 the US Supreme Court refused to review the case despite Stephen's lawyers submitting this new evidence. Further to this Stephen suffers from severe mental illness as a result of his childhood abuse. That fact has also been ignored by the courts.
I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this plea..
