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VETERANS INCarcerated COMMITTEE REPORT
BY TERRY HUBERT, CHAIR
Vietnam veterans George Page and James
Davis are facing imminent execution in North Carolina. I
was contacted by the Center for Death Penalty Litigation
(CDPL) about their cases. It’s
clear that the plight of two unfortunate veterans is within
the bailiwick of the Veterans Incarcerated Committee and
the PTSD Committee. CDPL suggested that VIC consider writing
to the governor of North Carolina requesting clemency for
Page and Davis. CDPL believes that a request from a national
VSO would merit the governor’s serious consideration
on behalf of all veterans.
The death penalty is a controversial
topic, like politics and religion, which often elicits strong
sentiments from adherents and abolitionists. Veterans often
have ambivalent attitudes towards the death penalty. There
are strong supporters among us and there are some who adamantly
oppose it. The committee is more sensitive to a sense of
social justice when it comes to punishment in the first place,
let alone in the rare event that culminates in a sentence
of capital punishment. The military experience, even without
combat exposure, assures that a veteran has a basic grasp
about killing. Killing is what the military is all about—superior
firepower and overwhelming force. Death is a central part
of military life.
Perhaps the ambivalence about execution
focuses on how it differs from combat killing. Execution
is ritualistic—a
carefully orchestrated dance of death. Combat is chaos in
a fearfully charged environment. Combat is dynamic and terrifying,
conducted under arbitrary rules of engagement where survival
often comes down to chance and luck. The aftermath of combat
indelibly alters a veteran’s perspective on life and
death. That’s why asking a veteran about the death
penalty often ignites a complex range of thoughts and emotions
based on real-life experience.
James Davis and George Page
are honorably discharged Vietnam veterans who served during
the 1968 Tet Offensive, during which Davis was wounded and
evacuated. He received a Purple Heart and then volunteered
for a second tour. After their discharges from the Army,
both men were diagnosed with severe mental illness and PTSD.
Both received VA treatment, including in-patient psychiatric
care and psychotropic medications. They were not unknown
to the police and other first responders because of routine
domestic and public order episodes. Their lives of mental
illness were marked by a continually deteriorating downward
spiral of despair that ultimately had tragic consequences
in 1995, resulting in the killing of a police officer by
Page and a horrific workplace shooting by Davis.
A review
of their cases reveals that mental illness and PTSD were
overriding factors in their offenses. The defense did introduce
the fact that the men were mentally ill and that their behavior
may have been affected by their experiences in Vietnam. But
their psychiatric histories and diagnoses were inadequately
presented and understated by the defense and vigorously refuted
by prosecutors. That’s why the
juries imposed the death penalty.
Davis has withdrawn his
final appeal and awaits execution. Without a doubt, this
former Army sergeant has been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia
and post-traumatic stress disorder for decades. He may be
the most seriously mentally ill person on North Carolina’s
death row. As in 1995, he remains unable to act or think
appropriately.
Likewise, Page has undergone
extensive psychiatric and psychological evaluations showing
he suffers from PTSD and neurological damage. He is a deeply
disturbed, mentally ill veteran whose illness was exacerbated
by his military service.
Despite having
strong and disparate feelings about the death penalty, the
Veterans Incarcerated Committee unanimously agrees that these
two veterans deserve clemency and should not be executed
for their actions in 1995. Davis and Page deserve to have
their sentences commuted to life in prison without parole.
Executive clemency is the humane way to resolve the plight
of these two old soldiers who were not mentally fit and are
unable to discern reality from dementia.
The committee
further feels that clemency will demonstrate to the new generation
of psychologically traumatized veterans returning from Iraq
and Afghanistan that we will give them due consideration
should they require it.
The committee recommends that the North Carolina State Council
and its chapters consider writing supporting letters to Gov.
Michael Easley at the Office of the Governor, 20301 Mail
Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-0301.
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2011, Vietnam Veterans of America. All Rights Reserved. 8719 Colesville Road, Suite 100, Silver Spring, MD 20910