Often it is the small wins are what we survive on. Small victories seem to have a way to slowly mount into something more but are rarely noticed by anyone but those involved.

Although not directly related to the death penalty, for several years here a bid to create an Innocence Commission in Pennsylvania (here, here, & here) has been discussed. Pennsylvania has had some problems with wrongful convictions & wrongful convictions has long been an interest both professionally and here. State Senator Greenleaf (R-Montgomery Co.) introduced a Senate Resolution (SR 381) to create an Innocence Commission as an advisory commission under the joint state government committee. The Resolution passed yesterday. In practical terms it means that the commission needs no additional legislative action to occur and will go a long way in exploring how to improve the criminal justice process in the Keystone state. Steve Hall @ Stand Down also has some coverage. The second is a grant of penalty phase relief by a federal district court in California on the issue of penalty phase ineffective assistance of counsel. Doug Mickey killed Catherine Blount. Then something truly amazing happen, Catherine's mother, Aba Gayle forgave him. Not only did she forgive him but reached out to him and eventually befriended him. A few years ago I got a chance to meet Aba while we served together on the Journey of Hope's board. I was moved by her powerful story, as I supsect anyone would be, the story of the journey itself, the story of forgiveness. If the decision stands, it means that Doug will spend the rest of his life in prison, with no possibility whatsoever of ever being released, but he would not be executed. On a personal level I am ecstatic for her as it was long my fear that he would be executed and she again traumatized by the lost of someone she loved to violence.