The controversy over the death penalty always has been a loudand visceral one. But traditionally absent from the argument havebeen Death Row prisoners themselves, walled away in maximum-securitycells while the fire-and-brimstone debate swirled around them, outofreach.
No longer. The Internet has wrought yet anothernear-revolutionary change in interpersonal communications, this timetaking the writings and drawings of condemned inmates anddisseminating them far beyond the cellblocks of San Quentin andotherprisons across the country.
And that cyber-hurdle over prison walls - a metaphoricaljailbreak of sorts - hasn't been favorably received in the pro-deathpenalty camp, heavily populated by families and friends of victimswhose lives were claimed by Death Row prisoners.The primary lightning rod: Dean Phillip Carter, sentenced todeath in 1989 for the 1984 murders of three West Los Angeles women,and sentenced to death again in 1991 for the 1984 rape and murder ofJanette Cullins of Pacifica Beach in San Diego County.In 1994, Carter began to contribute a series of columns, calledDead Man Talkin', about life on San Quentin's Death Row to a WorldWide Web site constructed by Alex Bennett, a morning-show discjockeyon San Francisco radio station KITS-FM and a vociferous opponent ofthe death penalty.The Web site has expanded to include artwork created by DeathRow prisoners (complete with instructions on how to send money tomail-order copies of the art), as well as a forum for letters. Butit is Carter's musings that have engendered the most hostilereaction, particularly from 73-year-old George Cullins, the fatherofCarter murder victim Janette.Cullins has responded with Citizens For Law And Order Talking, atruth squad-style Web site that not only parries Carter's views buthas taken on a larger, more activist role as a bulletin board forpolitical and legal death-penalty developments."As you read the letters of Dean Carter and those that write tohim, this is just one side of the issue," wrote Cullins, a retiredMarine, in a typical posting. "Realize that Carter was tried inthree courts in front of three juries, and the procedure wasoverseenby three judges, and he was found guilty of all offenses. If youread them with an open mind, you will see that he still proclaims hedid not do the deeds, he shows no remorse for his actions and isstill on the attack to gather those around him to hide from hismurderous acts."The rival Web site and some attendant publicity recently led toa falling-out between Carter and Bennett, who would receive mailingsfrom Carter and post them on the Internet (prisoners have no on-lineaccess at San Quentin). Bennett said Carter wrote his last columnabout two months ago because the inmate was upset over mediaaccountsidentifying him and his crimes - he had only gone by Dean on the Website - and because "he had begun to pontificate," Bennett said."The original intent of the columns was to simply reflect lifeon Death Row," Bennett said. "But the more he wrote, the more hebegan to lose his sense of innocence, as weird as that sounds. Thecolumns were losing their value."Still, the dozen columns that Carter wrote will remain posted onthe site, and Bennett stands by his decision to distribute thewritings of a convicted serial killer. Yet Bennett said he was naivewhen the process began, and did not know what Carter had beenconvicted of until after he asked the prisoner to write thearticles."Dean had called the radio show a few times during some of ourdiscussions about the death penalty," Bennett said. "Then we visitedhim at San Quentin . . . but we never asked what his crime had been.That wasn't the point. Who he was or what he did didn't matter. Itwasn't information we felt like we needed."Ultimately, however, Bennett said his girlfriend convinced himto dig into Carter's background. They went to the library oneSaturday afternoon, found a list of Death Row inmates and "he poppedright up . . . and I was horrified. It affected me so much that Istopped taking his calls. . . . It was difficult to deal with, ofcourse."But finally I said to myself, you're being a hypocrite. Itdoesn't matter that it's Dean. . . . What matters is that he is aperson," Bennett said.Cullins, who calls Carter "Alex Bennett's boy," doesn't see itthat way, contending that Carter is trying to delay his executiondate by complaining about Death Row conditions.And the fact that Carter has stopped writing doesn't necessarilyprovide either Cullins or his wife, Helen, with any sense ofsatisfaction. "We will continue until the law is carried out," HelenCullins said. "He has been sentenced, and the law says he must beexecuted."Carter has been mostly silent in the wake of the controversy,but he did call journalist Steve Knopper earlier this year toexpress"sympathy" for his victims' families and to respond to Cullins'cyber-campaign.He said his purpose in writing the columns was to "balance" theclaims made by victims' rights groups that Death Row inmates haveadvantages, which he said was "a bunch of crap. . . . They're onthis campaign to make things worse than what they are for us.""It's a free world," Carter said. "He (Culkins) is welcome todo what he wants. Everybody has their own opinion. They can thinkwhatever they want. If they don't like (Dead Man Talkin') they don'thave to read it. That's the bottom line."
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