June 8th, 2012 - US Death row prisoner Anthony Mungin’s asks the European people to help save his life.
Anthony Mungin has been on death row in Florida since 1993, for a crime in which he has always maintained his innocence. As he prepares to file his last appeal to the Florida Supreme Court (before Federal review), he addresses the European people to ask them to help him save his life.
In a plea to camera filmed in the context of a TV reportage to be aired in France on Sunday 10th (Enquête Exclusive, Bernard de la Villardière, M6, 10.45pm) he declares:
I just would like to say to all my friends and supporters: You have my respect, you have my admiration and you have my love. And I thank you for being my friends and for supporting me. You stay strong, and God bless. My philosophy is that injustice has an international face. Injustice made to one is injustice made to all. I am asking the one in France, in Italy, in England, Norway or Germany to please help me if you can. I need your help to prove my innocence. God Bless you all.*
Anthony Mungin was found guilty of premeditated murder and felony murder of Betty Woods, a store clerk in Jacksonville. He was sentenced to death by a tight 7-5 jury vote.
Complementary investigations over the years have pointed to a number of new witnesses that were never investigated nor presented at his trial, who could have helped prove Anthony’s innocence.
Currently the bone of contention evolves around George Brown, a new witness, who 20 years later, says that the police report is false. His version of the facts contradicts significantly the testimony of the only witness supposed to be at the crime scene and presented by the prosecution at trial, Ronald Kirkland, a man with extensive criminal history. Kirkland declared at trial that he could identify Anthony Mungin as the man coming out of the store, as himself was entering it.
In his latest court ruling, the Florida Supreme Court has said:
We are troubled by the possibility that a false police report was submitted and then relied on by defense counsel. An evidentiary hearing was held last February in the context of which G. Brown declared to be “100% certain” that there was no-one else at the crime scene, aside the victim, when he first arrived. However, the lower State Court denied A. Mungin’s claims one more time last March.
The Association Save Anthony has said:
Anthony’s journey has been one of hell. Yet, he has shown unlimited determination to prove his innocence. Even with surgical staples in the back further to a back operation he has stood up to meet with his lawyer so that he could file his defense motion in time. He has been fiercely fighting to get a new and fair trial for the last 19 years. Today, we are worried for Anthony’s fate. More than ever, our small association needs the widest possible support. We are calling on all spirited people to please help us save Anthony’s life.
One Justice of the Florida Supreme Court showed some support for the possibility of a new trial in the context of a previous appeal. The question is now whether a majority of justices will make that decision.
His friends and supporters, who amount to a big “European family of adoption” say that Anthony Mungin has very much changed over the years and has become an “exceptional person” - see all testimonies here.
If he was ever allowed again to live in the free world, he would like to help troublesome youngsters not to follow the path that leads to violence. His supporters believe that a new jury today, made of ordinary people just like themselves, would be unlikely to wish to sentence him to death. Florida is the only state not to require the unanimity of the jury to sentence someone to death.
A European web concert will be organised on July 22nd, 2012. It will be the 20th birthday that Anthony spends on death row.
Save Anthony is a French association under the 1901 law. www.save-anthony.com
Contact: Emmanuelle Purdon [email protected] - T.( 0044) 751 535 71 49
