AP Freed inmates lobby against death penalty (against WI referendum)

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http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=102135&ntpid=4

AT., OCT 7, 2006 - 12:08 AM
Freed inmates lobby against death penalty

Associated Press

Juan Melendez says he prayed the rosary five times a day while he was on Florida's death row, looking for a miracle to exonerate him for a 1983 murder he didn't commit.

His miracle came more than 17 years later when his conviction was overturned, but he says he's convinced other innocent inmates weren't as lucky.

He was among 13 people wrongly sentenced to die who came to Madison on Friday to speak against a Nov. 7 ballot question that calls for reinstating the death penalty.

Wisconsin has the nation's longest ban on the death penalty, having outlawed it in 1853 after a botched hanging..........

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1. Dem Gov. opposes this-but Mark Green Repug likes it (of course)

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, a former prosecutor, opposes the death penalty, but his Republican opponent, Mark Green, supports it.

Other supporters, including Senate President Alan Lasee, R- De Pere, have said they would build in safeguards to protect the innocent. The referendum is fairly specific, asking voters whether they support the penalty for people convicted of first-degree intentional homicide backed by DNA evidence.