OCR Text |
Show ctarace — Page BS Tuesday, May 7, 1996 THE DAILY HERALD, Provo, Utah MEDIA LAY MUSIC ¢ SOFTWARE MOVIES - BOOKS PAORE CHOICE. LESS PRIC E. EVERY DAY. ‘ AP Photo nse attorneys Bob Anderson, left, and Timothy ord listen with Hi-Fi defendant William Andrews, right, durii Point of the Andrews’ commutation hearing at ntain in this 1989 file photo. Hi-Fi killer Andrews haunts U.S. in international human rights By MIKE CARTER Associated Press Writer SALT LAKECITY — Convicted Hi-Fi killer William Andrews is four years dead, but the circumstances of his trial and execution quietly haunt Utah and the federal government in international human rights circles A three-member panel ofthe Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, secret. The State Departmentin Washington also declined official comment. However, an official speaking on condition of anonymity said the Clinton Administration “is taking this matter very seriously. “This has been an especially difficult case,” the official said. Indeed, the Andrews petition has progressed further than most in the case never held a hearing to determinethe origin ofthe note or its effect on the jury. Rather than declare a mistrial, the judge merely told those jurors who hadseen the note to disregard at. The petition’s other arguments are familiar to anyone who watched the case move slowly through the court system: The petition alleges that Andrews and two black codefendants, were tried byan all-white, allMormon jury. This was at a aecaue®“This is probably thefirst time that [Utah] of American has had to defense this case before a judi- StatesSashing- cial body that had people ofcolor. ... | can found merit in the tell you that [the commissioners]tookit wgument that much more seriously than courts of the Unit- time when the Andrews was a victim of racial CG States discrimination at his 1974 trial. State and federal officials acknowledge the potential for international political embarrassment over the case is substantial ~The U.S. likes to present a certain face to the world,” said Karen Musalo, acting director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic, in the Washington College of Law at American University in Washington, which brought the petition. “That the ideal of the U.S. mayfall short of thereality is not something people in the administration want to have hap- Mormon Church exclud- did.” — Steven Bright, anti-death penaity attorney .j bisck males en. While the petition has been pending since just before Andrews, who was black, was executed on July 30, 1992, for the torture-mur ders of three white people. the panel’s secret proceedings haveaccelerated recently as a final ruling nears Two months ago, Assistant Utah Attorney General David Yocom,theoffice's capital appeals expert, traveled to Washington at the behest of the State Department to defend Andrews’ trial and exe cution before the commission More recently, the parties involved have submitted hundreds of pages of briefs and the three commissioners — representing 13 Wester Hemisphere countries — have asked for portions of thetrial Wanseript. and copies of jury Instructions. The trio of commissioners will ulumately make a recommendation to the entire seven-member commission, which is expected to issue an opinion sometime this fall David Padilla. a spokesman for the Inter-American commission. icknowledged the petition but refused totalk about it, saying the proceedings and deliberations are fromholdingits other cases filed against the U.S since the Inter-American commission was formed in Santiago, Chile, in 1959, the State Departmentsource said. “My feeling from the State Department was that it’s a pretty unusual occurrenceto have one of these things get this far.” added Yocom The commission has no judicial power, butit has significant politi cal clout as the oldest and most prestigious humanrights organization in the Americas. Its censure is something the U.S. would just as soon avoid, given its stature as the hemisphere’s model for democracy and tolerance Andit’s somethingthat the state of Utah wouldlike to dodge. a well. considering the recent national controversy over its deci sion to ban gay clubs in high school, while at the same time declaring the “world is welcome here” for the 2002 Winter Games. The problem is not that Andrews was executed, since the OAS’s charter is silent on the death penalty. But the commission has decided the circumstances of Andrews’ racially charged trial could prove a violation of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man. which promotes the humancondition free from persecution and prejudice The petition — which has been prosecuted mostly by studentlawyers under Professor Musalo’s direction — focusesparticularly on a now-infamous note found by a juror lunch break in thetal Scrawled on a napkin. it showed a crude sketch of a stick figure on a gallows and bore the Hang the Niggers.”” The petition complains that the judge priesthood. The banwaslifted in 1978 Andrews, Pierre Dale Selby and Keith Roberts conspired to burglarize the Ogden Hi-Fi Shop. While Roberts waited outside, Andrews and Selby tied up five people in the basement and Andrews, armed with a handgun, poured caustic liquid drain cleaner into a cup, which Seiby ultimately forced thevictims to drink. Andrews then went outside and Selby admitted to raping oneof the women and shooting all five victims. Three of themdied. Selby was executed in 1987 Roberts was paroled that same after serving 13 years for ggravated robbery. Musalo and those supporting the petition believe the U.S. and Utah are particularly concerned because twoof the three membersof the commission are black “This is probably the first time that the state has had to defense this case before a judicial body that had people of color.” said Steven Bright. an anti-death penalty attorney from Atlanta, Ga.. whotestified in the case in February. “I can tell you that (the commissioners) took it much more seriously than courts of the United States did.” Yocom wascalled by the State Departmentto rebut Bright's testimony. He pointed out that state and federal courts delayed Andrews’ execution for nearly 18 years during 27 separate appellate reviews of the case, most focusing onits racial aspects. , Some Utah officials considerit FIRST KNIGHT WERE SLEEPING “© ymbia/ TriStar WHILE YOU Warner Bi the height of arrogance that the OAS would even consider reviewing the case, given the tamished humanrights records of many of its members. ‘ Hearing set on wastewater disposal rules The Utah Division of Water Quality has scheduled 2 public hearing May 15 at 10 a.m. cuss proposed changes State's individual-on-site water disposal rules. The hearing, one of to disin the waste- siting of a drain field in generic “earth fill” material. Would look like a convention absorption field or absorption bed system, where some portion would be located in earth fill materials and the bottom seven ofthe drain field may be above the scheduled throughout the state, original, natural ground surface. will be conducted at the Utah Provides sizing criteria as well as County Health Department, West classification of fill material and septic systemdrainfields. * Change the qualification language for those who conduct percolation tests to makeit consistent through the rule, to update the reference to local health department personnel from“registered sanitarjan” to “licensed environmental health scientist” and to require certification by the local health Auditorium, Entrance B on the west side of the buildin, at S89 S. design safety features to insure against failure. 3, Mound systems — A special departmentof those who dopercolation tests. options for use of three additional types of on-site systems to service some sites that are unsuitable for bottom above the natural ground surface. Provides an option that is ground water level” for determining the suitability of sites for fill system, but uses a very specif- be used. State St., Provo. * A better definition is provided The proposed rule changes add ized design locating the drain field of the “anticipated maximum the use of conventional septic systems. They include the following 1. “Atgrade” systems — a desiga to locate the drain field higher than a conventional drain field in the soil profile, where the bottom of the drain field is situated smaller than the equivalent earth building and the types of system to ic system design and fill material Representatives of political Includes pumping to uniformly subdivisions, governmental agendistribute the septic tank effluent cies, planning or civic groups, and through the absorption _ystem. all other persons having an interest 4. Other proposed rule changes in the proposed rule S are include: * The addition of stipulations face, covered in a mound of soil for use ofplastic chamber drain Effluent will always discharge into field systems as a substitute for the conventional gravel and perforated Ratural soils below. 2. Systems in earth fill — Allow distribution system in some ai, or below the natural ground sur- ’ invited to attend and ide oral or written Comments. Written com Poo maybe mailed to: John R Utah Division of Water uli, PO. Box 144870, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84114-4870. Newly discovered just last year, Lost laysen is Margoret Mitchell's surviving unpublished work. Mitchell wrote this vivacious tole of honor, adventure and unrequited love in the South Pacific when she was only sixteen. This lost treasure gives us an unprecedented “preview” of the LAYSEN Margaret Mitchell Simon Schuster - HC themes, characters and passion that List 18.00 FF q ‘ would later blossom in her classic Gone With the Wind. over 100,000 sooxs DISCOUNTED EVERY DAY Sale ends May 14, 1996 1100 W. Riverdale Rd., Riverdole, 627.039 * Feunily Center - Orem, 221-2993 Family Center - Taylorsville, Sob loke City, 968-6404 » Kamily Center - Fort Union, Midvale, 568-0220 ‘STGRE HOURS OPEN MON-THURS: 1AM SPM, FRSA TOAM-1OPR, OUth (ORE)TIPM-SPM, (ALL OTRUR SORES) 11AMm-OPM 8) 328-056 |