A Canadian couple has posted a Web site for convicted killer Scott Peterson, featuring a death-row letter to his supporters and old family photographs of him hugging his wife, Laci.

Tracy Lamourie and Dave Parkinson of the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty, which hosts Web sites for inmates on death row, received a letter from a Peterson supporter this year asking them to host a site for the California inmate.

''That's our mandate and we'll do it for anybody, but the request has to come directly from the prisoner,'' Ms. Lamourie said yesterday. ''[Peterson] then wrote us directly by mail asking us to create one.''

The Web site, www. ccadp.org/scottpeterson.htm, was posted last Wednesday and features smiling photos of Peterson and his murdered wife, Laci, whose body was found off the California coast in April, 2003.

Peterson was convicted of her murder last November, and was also found guilty of killing the couple's unborn child.

He was sentenced to death this year; the letter posted on the CCADP Web site is his first public statement.

''The amount of support we have received is just incredible,'' Peterson writes from San Quentin State Prison in California in a letter dated July 21, 2005. ''Those who have decided to reach out to our family have made such a difference.''

Peterson thanks those who have sent him letters in jail and expresses disappointment that he can no longer write directly to his supporters, explaining that people have ''sold my notes, and sometimes fabricating content.''

''It is an irritating, unfortunate situation,'' he writes. ''I am tremendously appreciative of your kindness, it has such a wonderful positive effect upon our family.''

Ms. Lamourie, an anti-death penalty activist who founded the CCADP with Mr. Parkinson eight years ago, said her organization hosts the personal Web pages of about 500 death-row inmates, and receives nearly 20,000 visits a day.

She vets content sent by inmates for racist or sexually explicit content, as well as anything that ''glorifies the nature of the crime.''

Since first being contacted by Peterson, Ms. Lamourie said she has been in regular correspondence with the convict, who plans to update his site quarterly.

She is ''absolutely sure'' the letters are from Peterson.

''We've been doing this for eight years, so we're quite familiar with what a letter from San Quentin looks like,'' she said. ''His mom has e-mailed us since and we've had several exchanges with him.''

Ms. Lamourie and Mr. Parkinson believe people on death row deserve a voice and that most convicted killers languish in silence until their execution.

''It's part of making people realize that these are real human beings who are being killed,'' she said of the Web sites.

Most inmates who use the couple's site post court documents and legal briefs, she said, as well as letters and artwork they have produced in jail.

Peterson provided a letter to the public as well as a 60-page defence brief and links to several Web sites promoting his innocence.

Ms. Lamourie said she does not have an opinion on Peterson's guilt, but said her organization has hosted sites for 13 death row inmates whose convictions were later overturned.

''They had way better issues convicting them than Peterson does,'' she said. ''I'm not saying he's innocent, but based on what we've seen in the trial I'd say that nobody can be absolutely sure that he's guilty.''

Mr. Parkinson said he has received some angry e-mails since Peterson's site was posted, and that the U.S. media has pounced on the story.

News of the site first broke last Thursday in Dose magazine, a CanWest publication, and has since been picked up by the Associated Press, Fox News and the New York Post, which ran the headline ''Dead Man Whining.''

Ms. Lamourie describes Peterson as ''very polite and very nice.''

''As much as you can tell from a letter, anyway,'' she said. ''He doesn't want to ask very much and he's very appreciative of anything people can do for him, as you can see in the note that he wrote to the public.''

Several messages of support have been posted on the CCADP site, and Ms. Lamourie said they are written by people opposed to the death penalty and not those who have a lurid interest in Peterson or other convicted felons.

''Those aren't the people we generally hear from, but it does happen,'' she said. ''I'm not hearing from women who supposedly think he's cute.''

Ms. Lamourie describes much of the interest in the Peterson case as ''unseemly,'' especially people who sell his letters and other personal possessions on eBay and other online auction sites.

But isn't it unseemly to allow a man to post family photographs of the woman he is convicted of murdering?

''Not at all,'' says Ms. Lamourie. ''At what point can we say, that's it, they're done -- they don't deserve to speak in their own defence? Not until the justice system is a whole lot better.''

PETERSON'S LETTER

Full text of the letter to supporters that Scott Peterson posted on the Canadian Coalition Against the Dealth Penalty Web site

Thank You

For me, the amount of support we have received is just incredible. Those who have decided to reach out to our family have made such a difference. The thoughtfulness and benevolence shown is a source of strength and spirit, an affirmation of considerate community. In every conversation among our family there is always the mention of your thoughts and letters.

At mail call I am encouraged by, and enjoy hearing from people.

I wish I could respond to express my gratitude, and continue to correspond. However, people having sold my notes, and sometimes fabricating content, preclude me from doing so. It is an irritating, unfortunate situation.

I am tremendously appreciative of your kindness, it has such a wonderful positive effect upon our family.

Scott Peterson;

July 21/05,

San Quentin State Prison, California

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The Abrams Report - MSNBC
August 1, 2005 - 6:45pm - 7:00 EST
Dave Parkinson appears live via satellite from Toronto with Vernell Critendon; San Quentin Prison's Information Officer to talk about Scott Peterson's webpage.  Dave confronts Vernell about security issues regarding his statements identifying other prisoners in close contact with Peterson.  Visit The Abrams Report website for a complete video of the interview !

Full Transcript of Dave Parkinson's appearance on The Abrams Report:

ABRAMS: Coming up, convicted wife killer, Scott Peterson speaking out from death row...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABRAMS: It‘s been a while since we heard from convicted murderer Scott Peterson. Now it seems he‘s back with a message. Apparently he wants to say thank you. Canadian anti-death penalty organization is hosting a Web page for Peterson, featuring a personal letter straight from death row. In it, Peterson thanks his supporters for writing to him in prison, even if he‘s not able to write back.

Quote—“At mail call, I‘m encouraged by and enjoy hearing from people. I wish I could respond to express my gratitude and continue to correspond. However, people having sold my notes and sometimes fabricating content preclude me from doing so. It is an irritating unfortunate situation. I‘m tremendously appreciative of your kindness. It has such a wonderful positive effect upon our family.”

The group hosting the Web site says Peterson plans to publish similar public messages a few times a year. Joining me now is Dave Parkinson from the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty. They‘re running the Peterson Web page. And Vernell Crittendon, a San Quentin Prison spokesperson who often fills us in on what‘s happening at death row where Peterson has recently been moved from an adjustment center to an individual cell.

All right, thank you both to both of you. Appreciate it. Mr. Parkinson, let me ask you this first of all. It seems Scott Peterson appears more worried about someone profiting from his words than he does about putting the word out.

DAVE PARKINSON, HOSTS SCOTT PETERSON‘S WEB PAGE: Well, rightly so. I mean since the...

ABRAMS: It‘s more important you think...

(CROSSTALK)

ABRAMS: You think it‘s more important whether people are profiting than whether he can supposedly defend...

PARKINSON: Well, no, but certainly when people are selling his letters on eBay or memorabilia sites trying to make a profit from it and since this media fiasco began with us posting this on the Internet, we‘ve actually had some legitimate news organizations in the U.S. we won‘t mention who have offered us money for a copy of the letter.

ABRAMS: OK. Now, I know your organization provides space for a lot of death row inmates and you‘ve pointed out that some have been released who—the evidence turns out enough to allow them to be freed. But do you worry that championing Scott Peterson undermines your credibility in this sense, that a lot of these people had under-funded defenses. They weren‘t able to investigate. They didn‘t have proper legal defenses, and yet here Scott Peterson had one of the most expensive lawyers in the country.

PARKINSON: (INAUDIBLE) but certainly as you‘re well aware, it‘s primarily a circumstantial case, if not purely a circumstantial case with little or no forensic evidence, DNA, witnesses, what have you. In many of the instances where we had someone who was wrongly convicted, almost 12 people now who originally wrote us from death row proclaiming their innocence, who have since been released and exonerated through DNA or other means, at least in those cases they had a jailhouse snitch‘s testimony. They might have had some fabricated evidence. They might have had wrong eyewitness statement.

(CROSSTALK)

PARKINSON: But the fact of the matter is...

(CROSSTALK)

PARKINSON: ... they were much more guilty than a primarily circumstantial case...

(CROSSTALK)

PARKINSON: ... where there‘s little or no physical evidence whatsoever.

ABRAMS: But you know, you‘ve done a lot of these cases. Don‘t give me the nonsense about circumstantial cases. The bottom line is circumstantial cases are the strongest cases out there. Eyewitnesses, jailhouse snitches are the type of testimony that lead to overturned verdicts because they‘re so unreliable.

PARKINSON: In some instances they do. In other instances there have been many individuals who have been executed...

ABRAMS: Right.

PARKINSON: ... on primarily the same evidence that we‘ve had people exonerated on. We‘re not taking the stance of guilt or innocence in Mr. Peterson‘s case. We‘re primarily allowing him a forum to do that on his own and he has maintained his innocence since day one.

ABRAMS: Yes, I know, but you‘re also by saying it‘s an entirely circumstantial case and we have all these people who are released with this...

PARKINSON: But it is.

ABRAMS: It may be...

PARKINSON: Even...

ABRAMS: It may be, but circumstantial cases as you know, I‘m not saying that this is the strongest case I‘ve ever seen, but circumstantial cases are the strongest types of cases.

PARKINSON: Oh in some instances they can be. But even Judge Delucchi three-quarters through the trial said if there is a conviction, it‘s in the apple of the lawyer‘s petrie dish. Even he acknowledged the fact that there were so many issues that couldn‘t fully be substantiated that it is (INAUDIBLE) lawyer‘s dream and there are going to be issues brought up and he is certain to get an appeal down the road if these issues are properly addressed...

ABRAMS: Yes, he‘ll get an appeal...

PARKINSON: But again, we don‘t—we‘re not talking about his guilt or innocence on the page. We‘re allowing him to do that as we do for 500 other death row prisoners, primarily in the United States but also in several other countries around the world.

ABRAMS: All right, Vernell Crittendon, what is Peterson up to these days?

VERNELL CRITTENDON, SAN QUENTIN PRISON SPOKESPERSON: Well good afternoon, Dan. And I just wanted to comment on one statement that was made and that is here in the state of California, no inmate on death row has been released because of DNA testing. So I just thought I‘d want to clarify that.

And Scott Peterson is doing well on death row. Was up in death row today just prior to coming to this broadcast and he‘s taken down the picture off of his wall, he and Laci at their wedding. He‘s now put another picture up, which is a picture of he and Laci on vacation sitting out on a beach. He seems to be in very good spirits.

We now have him moved over to the east block where we house the lion share of the death row inmates. And we actually began to identify inmates that are compatible with Scott Peterson that he‘ll be spending the rest of his life with. I thought you might find interesting, just a couple of them I wanted to share with you. One was a man named Ivan Gonzalez (ph) from San Diego who came in 1995.

He had sexually molested a 4-year-old multiple times and at the point of death, 50 percent of her body was burned. He has another gentleman that he‘ll be with is Mike Martinez (ph). Mike Martinez (ph) took a knife and a hammer to a woman and killed her and then repeatedly...

PARKINSON: Mr. Crittendon, is it not a serious breach of security to be releasing details—for the public relations officer at San Quentin to be releasing such detailed information on Mr. Peterson‘s comings and goings within the present facility? I understand it‘s one thing to advise the public how he‘s checked in, fingerprinted, and escorted to a cell, but getting into such detailed information as to who he‘s hanging out with in the prison, does that not compromise Mr. Peterson‘s security and as an official representative of the California Department of Corrections...

CRITTENDON: No...

PARKINSON: ... are you not concerned that giving such detailed information...

ABRAMS: Let him respond.

PARKINSON: ... may compromise...

ABRAMS: All right, Vernell, your response.

CRITTENDON: No, it does not. He is in—only in death row and he is put in with a group of death row inmates that are all compatible with Mr. Peterson. And there will be no other inmates that will have access to him. Of the 637 that we have on death row in the state of California, none of them...

PARKINSON: And now the public at large knows who those individuals are and they know who is in contact with Mr. Peterson within the facility. So how does that not compromise...

CRITTENDON: And there‘s almost 65 of them that are...

ABRAMS: But how—wait, how does it compromise security? I don‘t even understand theoretically how it would. I mean he‘s on death row.

PARKINSON: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well...

PARKINSON: Certainly by knowing who he is hanging out with...

(CROSSTALK)

PARKINSON: ... at any given time within the facility, you know going to yard, the detailed information that‘s been provided...

ABRAMS: All right.

PARKINSON: ... it makes it a lot easier for individuals on the outside who wish harm to Mr. Peterson...

ABRAMS: Yes.

PARKINSON: ... to contact individuals on the inside who may have close contact...

ABRAMS: All right. All right. I‘ve got to wrap it up...

PARKINSON: ... it‘s a serious breach of security.

ABRAMS: Yes, yes, all right.

CRITTENDON: Well I differ with you. I don‘t call that...

(CROSSTALK)

CRITTENDON: ... to be a serious breach...

(CROSSTALK)

ABRAMS: I‘ve got to break here. We‘ve got some quick breaking news here that the shuttle deputy program manager has just announced that they are going to try and fix two pieces of a gap filler dangling from the spaceship there on a space walk on Wednesday. As you know, the Discovery suffered some damage shortly after takeoff and the question has been, are they going to have to go out there in a space walk, which can be risky and try and repair it? The answer is yes they are going to do that. The space walk will begin on Wednesday at 4:14 a.m. Eastern Time.

Take a break. We‘ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABRAMS: That does it for us tonight. We ran out of time with that breaking news, weren‘t able to do the “Rebuttal” and the “OH PLEAs!”, but again that breaking news was that there will be a third space walk on Wednesday to try and repair the damage to the Discovery. That has never been done before, a space walk where they have actually tried to repair something like this.

Coming up next, “HARDBALL” with Chris Matthews. See you tomorrow.

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DEAD MAN WHINING
By HEATHER GILMORE - New York Post, July 31, 2005

July 31, 2005 -- Poor baby.
The first words from death-row devil Scott Peterson are a sappy mix of gratitude and petty grumbling — including how he refuses to reply to fan mail because of an "irritating" handful of people messing with his letters.

"At mail call, I am encouraged by, and enjoy hearing from people," Peterson waxes on his new Web page. "I wish I could respond to express my gratitude . . . However, people having sold my notes, and sometimes fabricating content, preclude me from doing so."

Peterson — who was sentenced to death by electric chair in May for killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn baby, Connor — wrote the note in his 42-square-foot cell on death row in the East Block of San Quentin State Prison on July 21.

The week before, he moved to death row from the California jail's orientation center.

He sent the letter to Tracey Lamourie, co-founder of the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty, which runs a site that includes pages from 500 condemned killers.

Peterson approved the look of the page — www.ccadp.org/scottpeterson.htm — and its link to a Manhattan center whose mission is to exonerate innocent felons.

His page also links to sites devoted to advocating pretty-boy Peterson as a victim of the justice system.

Peterson begins his note, "For me, the amount of support we have received is just incredible. Those who have decided to reach out to our family have made such a difference."

He also thanks supporters for their "thoughtfulness and benevolence."

But despite such support, it appears he's becoming less popular with death-row groupies.

His weekly fan-mail load had dropped from three dozen letters to an average of two or three, said San Quentin administrative assistant Sgt. Eric Messick.

"We screen each letter for security reasons but not for intimate language — it's just too common from women who write," said Messick.

On his Web page, Peterson writes of his pen pals: "In every conversation among our family there is always the mention of your thoughts and letters. I am tremendously appreciative of your kindness."

When not penning trite thank-you notes, Peterson spends almost all his time in a fifth-floor barred cell that looks out to a narrow walkway and railing called a "suicide bar" — installed to prevent condemned murderers from throwing themselves to their deaths.

Peterson gets a hot breakfast, usually Farina, and a bag lunch with sandwiches, fruit and trail mix. Dinner is Mexican, Italian or a burger, plus a packet of sugar-free Kool-Aid.

"No one is allowed sugar, they've been known to ferment it to make prison wine called 'pruno,' " said Messick.

Peterson is allowed a TV, radio and CD player in his room and no more than 10 books.

Peterson has a handful of pre-approved visitors and gets 90 minutes in the concrete exercise yard three times a week.

But he appears to be adjusting to his bleak surroundings.

"It sure is tough here, but [Peterson] seems to be adapting as well as can be," Messick said.

Lamourie agrees that Peterson "seems to be adjusting OK," but also is "looking forward to fighting on appeal."

But Messick thinks Inmate No. V72100 will "be here until the day he dies."

http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/51128.htm

Visit the CCADP site

His first posting thanked people who have written to him in prison. “For me, the amount of support we have received is just incredible. Those who have decided to reach out to our family have made such a difference. The thoughtfulness and benevolence shown is a source of strength and spirit, an affirmation of considerate community,” he wrote.

The CCADP was approached by SCOTT PETERSON asking for help in establishing a website. The organization has provided around 500 such websites to prisoners on death row across the U.S. “He essentially had a trial by media,” said coalition co-founder DAVE PARKINSON. “We’re not here to judge his guilt or innocence, we just wanted to help him to speak his mind.”

PETERSON will be posting messages several times a year, and will soon post family photographs on the site.

SCOTT PETERSON wrote on the website that he cannot respond personally to letters he receives in prison because of the fact that his correspondence has been sold in what he called an “irritating, unfortunate situation.”

In May, “murderabilia” website supernaught.com had a letter by PETERSON listed for sale at $300. The website has a selection of morbid memorabilia for sale, including letters by AILEEN WUORNOS and DAVID “Son of Sam” BERKOWITZ, a musical recording by CHARLES MANSON, and a brick from a house once lived in by JEFFREY DAHMER.

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Killer's death row pals plea
icWales - The national website of Wales
Marc Baker, Wales on Sunday - July 24 2005

A DEATH row killer of Welsh descent wants pen pals from Wales to help him prepare for the electric chair.

Roderick Orme - nicknamed the Florida Strangler - is so proud of his heritage that he has a tattoo of a winged Welsh dragon on his left arm. Now he wants to get back to his roots by airmail before he meets his maker.

The 43-year-old bald murderer has spent the past 12 years on death row at the maximum security Union Correctional Institution in Florida.

But last night, the cold-blooded killer said he was "now worthy of another's friendship".

Orme was sentenced to death in 1993 for strangling nurse Lisa Redd while high on cocaine at a motel in Panama City, Florida.

He denied first degree murder, robbery and sexual battery, but was found guilty after a jury heard how he subjected Miss Redd to a savage beating on March 4, 1992. He was snared by DNA evidence.

Orme strangled Miss Redd to death after he called her to his room because he was having a "bad high" after freebasing cocaine.

But last night, Orme insisted he is a changed man as he launched a bid to find pen friends from the green green grass of home.

Orme, who will have to choose between the electric chair or lethal injection, has launched his search through the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty website.

Speaking from his cell, the 14-stone convict said: "I am 42 years old and from Welsh descent. I have been on death row for almost 12 years.

"During that time I have gone through many changes. From total shock and disbelief of where I am to finally understanding and accepting the reality all things have purpose.

"As a so-called free person, I was a slave to pleasures of the flesh. Whether it was for booze, drugs or sex.

"Now as a death row prisoner I am totally physically locked down, but find myself mentally freer than I've ever been.

"As a result, I believe I have become someone worthy of another's friendship, while I still struggle with my many flaws, one thing I have come to hold to strongly is a sense of honesty.

"I hope to find a good friend now on the outside."

Last night, prison chiefs at the Union Correctional Institution, said people still had time to make contact.

A spokeswoman said: "At this time, Orme does not have an active death warrant and no date of execution has been set."

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