NCADP - The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

John Boltz, OK - June 1

Do Not Execute John Boltz!

John Boltz, a 74-year-old white man, is scheduled to be executed on June 1 for the killing of Doug Kirby in Pottawatomie County. On the evening of April 18, 1984, John Boltz’s then wife, Patricia, went to meet a friend of hers. Boltz, suspecting the two were having an affair, flew into a rage, threatening his wife’s friend. Later that evening, Patricia’s son (and Boltz’s stepson), Doug Kirby, told his mother he was going to see his stepfather. Before he arrived at Boltz’s home, Boltz called Patricia and threatened her and Kirby. When Kirby arrived at Boltz’s home, Boltz is alleged to have stabbed him several times, killing him. Boltz was apprehended at a local American Legion hall.

In his appeal, Boltz argues that he should have been declared incompetent after refusing to accept a prosecutor’s plea bargain for the charge of voluntary manslaughter. A guilty plea to this charge would have carried a much lighter sentence than the one which the prosecutor sought at trial: death. The court found that the fact that Boltz refused to plead guilty to manslaughter did not indicate incompetence, just failure to recognize a good deal. But this ignores a larger, more troubling issue. Death penalty proponents argue that execution is reserved for the worst of the worst killers. They suggest that these offenders are entirely incorrigible, and should never again be free in society. Yet John Boltz was offered a deal that, in all likelihood, would have made him a free man by now.

In Furman v. Georgia, death penalty laws around the country were declared unconstitutional due to the arbitrary and capricious manner in which the punishment was applied. The only reason capital punishment continues to exist today is because those laws were “fixed.” But what could be more arbitrary than offering a man the charge of manslaughter one day, then seeking the death penalty against him the next? Perhaps John Boltz deserves to spend the rest of his natural life in prison, but he should not be executed. Boltz’s case is the perfect example of how the death penalty continues to be woefully unjust.

Please write to Gov. Brad Henry on behalf of John Boltz!

September 02, 2010

Subject:

I wish to appeal to you on behalf of John Boltz, who is due to be executed on June 1. My sympathies go out to the family and loved ones of Doug Kirby, and I agree that this was a very tragic event that cannot go unpunished. However, the death penalty—which only serves to create more victims and perpetuate a cycle of violence—is not the right punishment for Boltz. At trial, Boltz was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. However, before the trial, the prosecution offered him a deal. They were prepared to let him plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter, a charge that carries a far lighter sentence. Boltz refused. This is a prime example of the unconstitutional arbitrariness of the death penalty. The same man who has received a punishment reserved for the “worst of the worst” was offered the chance to go free after a few years in prison. This kind of capriciousness in our criminal justice system is unsettling, to say the least. Executing John Boltz would violate the right to life as proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and constitute the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment. Please find it in your heart to spare the life of this human being. Thank you for your time and consideration in this important and urgent matter.
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