Death-Row Indian

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Doug Stankewitz has done some terrible things in his life, but that doesn't mean he should be on death row simply because he’s an Indian... this story is a chilling look into the American Legal system and how our country oppresses the disenfranchised in our so called civilized society

Capital punishment, the saying goes, means that those without the capital get the punishment, and in more than 35 years of labor in criminal law, I’ve yet to see a case that disproves it. Capital cases are usually defended by court-appointed lawyers, because prosecutors do not typically choose to seek the death penalty against defendants who can afford the stratospheric legal fees of a capital defense. The only capital case I defended in private practice was one of the very few I’ve seen where the lawyers were hired rather than appointed, and we won—victory being defined in that instance as the government not being allowed to kill our client.

Chief Stankewitz has no execution date set and the litigation to get him a new trial continues. Until he does get a fair trial, we won’t have any basis to say whether he is among the worst of the worst who deserve the death penalty or whether he is just another man without the capital getting the punishment.

and by odd coincidence the name of Sam Jack Sample, Douglas’s grandfather, has turned up on the list of persons for whom the Department of the Interior is holding property in trust. Since Stankewitz’s mother is deceased, he may actually inherit that property, thereby acquiring the funds to pay for his funeral—if he had anyone to attend it....

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Originally posted by DaddyBare
Doug Stankewitz has done some terrible things in his life, but that doesn't mean he should be on death row simply because he’s an Indian...

Sorry, cant find the bit on the story that says he's on death row "simply because he's an indian."

I did find a bit where it said he's guilty because Theresa Greybeal was shot dead in the course of a robbery by a group of people high on heroin, and there is no question that Chief was one of them... but maybe thats not important.

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by DaddyBare
Doug Stankewitz has done some terrible things in his life, but that doesn't mean he should be on death row simply because he’s an Indian...

Sorry, cant find the bit on the story that says he's on death row "simply because he's an indian."

I did find a bit where it said he's guilty because Theresa Greybeal was shot dead in the course of a robbery by a group of people high on heroin, and there is no question that Chief was one of them... but maybe thats not important.

I think I can help you out with that part... it starts off

The Fearsome Responsibility

Chief has now spent 33 years of his life on California’s death row, but virtually all of his life before arriving there was spent under the “supervision” of the state of California in one guise or another. We don’t know what the jury on his trial would have made of this, but we do know that Chief’s American Indian identity made their decision to kill him almost inevitable. That statement may seem shocking, but so are the actions of Douglas Stankewitz’s court-appointed lawyer, the ex-judge Hugh Goodwin.

it's about mid way down the page

Originally posted by DaddyBare

Chief Stankewitz

Sorry... any injustice is terrible - if that's what this is - but I just had to comment. "Chief STANKEWITZ?" Of the Pollack tribe? Now I know I'm being insensitive but come on! I get how an amerindian can end up with a westernized family name, but once you get to be "Chief" don't you kinda get to choose your name? Like Chief Running Bear?

That must be some tribe with their Chief spending most of his time in prison/jail.

Originally posted by 35Foxtrot

Originally posted by DaddyBare

Chief Stankewitz

Sorry... any injustice is terrible - if that's what this is - but I just had to comment. "Chief STANKEWITZ?" Of the Pollack tribe? Now I know I'm being insensitive but come on! I get how an amerindian can end up with a westernized family name, but once you get to be "Chief" don't you kinda get to choose your name? Like Chief Running Bear?

That must be some tribe with their Chief spending most of his time in prison/jail.

Chief ... in this case is just an honorarium....

Big Sandy Rancheria's tribal headquarters is located in Auberry, California. They are governed by a democratically elected, five-person tribal council. The current administration is as follows:

Elizabeth Kipp, Tribal Chairperson
Miles Baty, Vice Chairperson
Johnny Baty, Treasurer
Lisa D. Garcia, Secretary
Arrow Sample, Member-at-Large

In my own tribe we have two names... one we give to the Government and one that is a private matter that stays within the family, close friends and tribe

I used to have a job working with BIA documents [In one document, an Indian stated that "BIA" stood for "Boss Indians Around."], and in the course of it I saw the names of many tribes, but I don't remember the Pollack Tribe. Maybe I'll look it up...

OK, here's what I found - a LONG list of Tribal names:

www.native-languages.org...


Pollack is not in the list, at least, not in the "P's".

Hecklers. It's hard to tell if they're being facetious or obtuse, or whether they actually have reading-comprehension problems. Assuming they read the source in the first place. In any case, if they either didn't read it or didn't comprehend it, I don't understand why they bother to respond in these threads.

Anyway, you have more class than I do in dealing with them....