On 1/17/12, Governor Markell followed the Delaware Board of Pardons' recommendation for clemency for Robert Gattis and commuted Mr. Gattis' death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

Action items below include: Thank Governor Markell and the Board of Pardons for saving a life. Thank the News Journal for their editorial in support of commutation. Write a letter to the editor. Add a comment to the online editorial or online news items. 

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E-mail: http://smu.governor.delaware.gov/cgi-bin/mail.php?contact

Dover: Phone: 302-744-4101, Fax: 302-739-2775

Wilmington: Phone: 302-577-3210, Fax: 302-577-3118

It is important that we publicly show our support for the courageous decision of Governor Markell and the Board of Pardons to do justice this week by granting Robert Gattis’ commutation application.  Below you will find some template letters, but I encourage you to draft your own letter to the Editor of the News Journal expressing this sentiment.  There will, of course, be those who will loudly criticize these officials for their actions, and it is important that we don’t let their voices co-opt this important moment.  Thank you all so much for the significant work you have undertaken to make this happen.  Let’s not let this event pass without giving the officials who took action praise for their courage.

Below are two sample letters to the editor.  As soon as possible please draft your own letter to the editor of The News Journal, using these examples as a template. Please follow these guidelines:

Letters should be e-mailed to both letters@delawareonline.com and to jsweeney@delawareonline.com as soon as possible. The writer should include his name, address, email address, and phone number (for internal verification purposes).

1) To the Editor,

Governor Jack Markell has done the right thing by granting clemency to Robert Gattis (“Markell spares Gattis the death penalty,” 1/17). With his death sentence commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole, Mr. Gattis will still be held accountable for his crime.

Mr. Gattis has by all accounts proven himself to be a rehabilitated person who is profoundly remorseful for the tragic death of Shirley Slay. Mr. Gattis is also a victim of horrible sexual and physical abuse that began when he was just a small child. His sentencing jury and judge did not know all of this information – but the Pardons Board and Governor Markell did, and wisely reasoned that such history of severe abuse must factor into how Mr. Gattis is punished.

By granting clemency, Governor Markell has shown the type of leadership that should make all people in Delaware proud.

2) To the Editor, 

Governor Jack Markell and the Pardons Board should be praised for commuting the death sentence of Robert Gattis and upholding fairness in Delaware’s criminal justice system (“Markell spares Gattis the death penalty,” 1/17).

Mr. Gattis’ death sentence failed to take into consideration that he suffered appalling abuse throughout his entire childhood – a crucial sentencing factor that was not presented at trial. Even without this information, two of the jurors at Mr. Gattis’ trial voted against a death sentence. Furthermore, the Governor pointed out that similar crimes in our state received sentences less than death.

Executing Mr. Gattis is not necessary to ensure that he is punished. Spending the remainder of his life in prison is a punishment that is severe and appropriate. I join the dozens of faith leaders, legal and mental health professionals, and others from our community in supporting Governor Markell’s well-reasoned decision in this case.

Because this is unprecedented for the newspaper, we think that online comments are particularly important in this instance to show the editorial board that it has widespread support for its position.  

Sample online comments include:

1) The editorial got it right in supporting the Pardons Board recommendation for commuting Robert Gattis' death sentence to life in prison without parole. The horrific ongoing sexual and physical abuse that Mr. Gattis suffered, beginning when he was just a small child, was never known to the judge or jury. As the Board reasoned, this should certainly factor into whether Mr. Gattis is deserving of the ultimate punishment. I hope the Governor follows their recommendation.

2) I share this editorial's hope that Governor Markell accepts the Pardons Board recommendation. The Board should be commended for recognizing the unfairness of Robert Gattis' death sentence.  As the Board noted, many other people who committed similar crimes in Delaware have not been sentenced to death. Even Robert Gattis' jury did not unanimously support his death sentence. Of course Mr. Gattis must be held accountable, but executing him is an excessive punishment.

3) As this editorial points out, the Pardons Board is right to be troubled by the fact that Robert Gattis was sentenced to die while other people convicted of similar crimes in Delaware have faced lesser punishments. It's only fair that his sentence be commuted to life without parole. Commuting his sentence will ensure that he is still punished, while also upholding the basic fairness of our justice system. 

4)  I agree with this editorial that the Pardons Board was correct to recommend clemency for Robert Gattis. Judges, prosecutors, faith leaders, mental health experts, even corrections officers all agree that death is not an appropriate punishment in this case.  I hope Governor Markell commutes Mr. Gattis' death sentence. 

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120117/OPINION11/201170327/Pardons-board-right-recommend-clemency?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7COpinion%7Cp.

Delaware Board of Pardons:

The Honorable Matthew Denn, Lt. Governor -  President 
The Honorable Jeffrey W. Bullock, Secretary of State  - Secretary of the Board
The Honorable Leo E. Strine, Jr., Chancellor of Court of Chancery - Member
The Honorable Chipman Flowers, Jr., State Treasurer - Member
The Honorable R. Thomas Wagner, Auditor of Accounts - Member

Contact the Board: Phone 302-749-4111, Fax 302-739-3811

E-mail - Pardons@state.de.us

Salutation: Dear Members of the Board

Full Statement of the Delaware Board of Pardons Recommendation Regarding Clemency Application of Robert Gattis on 1/15/12.

The Board has before it a very difficult decision as a human life hangs in the balance. By a four to one vote, the Board is recommending that Mr. Gattis's death sentence be commuted, provided that he agrees to spend the rest of his natural life in prison with no further appeals for relief.

We wish to set forth briefly in writing the essential basis for our recommendation.

The crimes committed by Mr. Gattis were horrific and we find no fault in how this case was handled by the prosecutors and judges involved. We also believe that the family of the victim has good reasons to argue that the sentence of death should be imposed.

State prosecutors and the Slay family are correct to harbor suspicions about some of the testimony on Mr. Gattis's background.

The Board weighed heavily that Mr. Gattis did not come forward with the full extent of his sexual abuse until 2009 despite having used elements of a child abuse defense twenty years earlier.

In considering the full record, we accept that if even half of what has been submitted about Mr. Gattis's childhood is true, he was victimized physically, emotionally, and sexually by family members who owed him a duty of care.

There is evidence in the record that Mr. Gattis complained to medical professionals of mental illness and involuntary violent impulses over a year before Ms. Slay's murder.

Although Mr. Gattis knew right from wrong and was guilty of first degree murder, we, in the exercise of conscience required of us as members of this Board, believe that these are sufficiently mitigating facts to warrant consideration for clemency.

Three other factors, not specific to the Gattis case alone, also weigh heavily in the decisions of Board members. For all four of us, we are concerned that our death penalty statute permits the imposition of death on the basis of a non-unanimous verdict. In the Gattis case, two jurors who heard the trial in its entirety twenty years ago, both of whom were prepared to impose the death penalty if appropriate, would not do so.

Second, some of us share a concern about the disparity in the sentences that are meted out in serious murder cases. In our time on the Board of Pardons, we have considered other clemency requests arising from domestic disputes that resulted in brutal murders similar in some respects to the case before us.

Though the crimes of Mr. Gattis are more serious, in those other cases, persons convicted not only were permitted to live but will likely one day be released from prison. The sentencing disparity in these cases has become too great and offends a moral sense of proportionality.

Finally, one of us believes even more fundamentally that once a prisoner has been incapacitated and poses no threat of future harm to society, then there is no moral justification for taking his life.

When the taking of life is not required as a matter of self-defense, that member believes that one cannot ethically or morally take that act.

We also take into account the reality that Mr. Gattis is not an unusually problematic prisoner, although he is far from a model one.

Within the structured setting of a prison, one thing emerges indisputably from the  record: Mr. Gattis does not pose a threat of violence within the prison setting and is not regarded as dangerous by the Department of Correction. He appears to be viewed as a constructive prisoner by some of the correctional employees who have worked with him over the years, and is not a security threat.

The recommendation for clemency was a very close call for several of us.

One factor that made the decision so difficult is that Mr. Gattis did not take full responsibility for intentionally killing Ms. Slay until earlier this month, leaving doubt as to his contrition. Given that, and to ensure that the Slay family and the public do not have to go through this painful process again, we condition our recommendation for mercy, on the following:

1) Mr. Gattis shall forever drop all legal challenges to his conviction and sentence, as commuted.

2) Mr. Gattis shall forever waive any right to present a future commutation or pardon request and agree to live out his natural life in the custody of the Department of Correction.