Box 1

Scope and Contents

Correspondence between Russell Stetler and Alan Schlosser and John Hasty regarding the witnessing and recordings of executions, a copy of a Memorandum and Order by Judge Marilyn Patel authorizing Russell Stetler to film Robert Harris’ execution, and articles about Marilyn Patel’s 1994 ruling which banned the use of lethal gas in California.

Scope and Contents

Copy of Fierro v. Gomez Defendants’ Proposed Findings of Fact, an article about the death penalty, a diagram of court proceedings, the San Quentin gas chamber, an article about the use of lethal gas, a list of execution methods in different states, a copy of the Santa Clara Law Review Vol. 32 No. 4, summary of Houchins v. KQED, INC, and an article about the psychological effects of witnessing an execution.

Scope and Contents

Includes a copy of Judge Marilyn Patel’s opinion in the Fierro vs. Gomez case which ruled execution by lethal gas violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, two copies of an opinion in the appeal Fierro vs. Gomez case which affirms Judge Marilyn Patel’s verdict, and the cover and title page of a binder of exhibits 1-13 presented in the Fierro v. Harris case.

Scope and Contents A binder of exhibits 1-13 presented in the Fierro v. Harris case in California. Exhibits 1-6 are declarations from physicians or scientists taken in April 1992. All six state that execution by cyanide gas used at San Quentin Prison is a painful and needlessly cruel procedure. Exhibits 7-13 are documents related to San Quentin Gas Chamber Operations. This includes the Lethal Gas Chamber Execution Records from the San Quentin Prison from 1946-1967, operation instructions for the gas chamber,...

Scope and Contents A binder of exhibits 14-50 presented in the Fierro v. Harris case in California. The majority of exhibits are declarations, written in 1992, of witnesses to executions by cyanide gas from 1947 to 1992 in California, Mississippi, Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina, including a declaration from a former guard at the San Quentin Prison. Also included is a declaration from Patrick Croy, a former death row inmate at San Quentin, a declaration from Robert Davis, who while a State Senator,...