September 7, 2005

Victims Rights Activist Endorses Bryant's Senate Bid

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Ed Bryant, a former federal prosecutor and four-term Congressman, announced that leading victims rights activist Rebecca Easley has agreed to serve as honorary chairman of his Law Enforcement Leadership Council as Bryant continues to campaign for the Senate seat being vacated by Bill Frist of Tennessee.

In 1977, Easley’s 24-year-old sister Deborah Groseclose was brutally assaulted, raped and murdered by two hit men, Philip Michael Britt and Ronald Rickman, hired by the victim’s husband William Groseclose. Rickman and Groseclose were initially sentenced to death for their merciless crimes but after years of appeals, one federal judge ordered new trials which ended in life sentences for both killers; Britt was originally sentenced to life in prison and was recently denied parole.U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., a candidate for the Tennessee Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, recently signed and sent a letter to the parole board supporting Britt's parole bid but after it became public he apologized and blamed his congressional staff.

I have included the full text of the Bryant campaign press release in the extended-entry portion of this post. Please also see the entry posted before this one, regarding Ford.

Victims Right Advocate Rebecca Easley Named to Law Enforcement Leadership Council

"In Congress, Ed Bryant didn’t hesitate to take my side and seek justice for those who wronged my sister. As a former prosecutor, Ed Bryant has a proven record of putting – and keeping – criminals behind bars."

Easley cites Bryant’s record as a federal prosecutor, effectiveness as a legislator, and longstanding compassion for victims of crime as basis for support.

BRENTWOOD, TN – Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Ed Bryant, a former federal prosecutor and four-term Congressman, announced that leading victims rights activist Rebecca Easley has agreed to serve as honorary chairman of his Law Enforcement Leadership Council.

Easley stated, "In Congress, Ed Bryant didn’t hesitate to take my side and seek justice for those who wronged my sister. As a former prosecutor, Ed Bryant has a proven record of putting – and keeping – criminals behind bars. We need Ed Bryant’s experience, commitment, and demonstrated leadership in the U.S. Senate. I’m pleased that he approached me to join him in standing up for law and order."

In 1977, Easley’s 24-year-old sister Deborah Groseclose was brutally assaulted, raped and murdered by two hit men, Philip Michael Britt and Ronald Rickman, hired by the victim’s husband William Groseclose. Rickman and Groseclose were initially sentenced to death for their merciless crimes but after years of appeals, one federal judge ordered new trials which ended in life sentences for both killers; Britt was originally sentenced to life in prison and was recently denied parole.

Throughout the prolonged judicial process, Easley’s vigilant pursuit of justice for her sister led her to become a spokesman for victims’ rights and an advocate for reforms in the legal system so that others would not have to endure the same delay and denial of justice.

Bryant and Easley first worked together in 1995 to draft legislation to correct some of the judicial excesses which emerged during the decade-long federal appeals of Groseclose’s and Rickman’s capital sentences. Specifically, Congressman Bryant introduced two bills on judicial ethics and on excessive lawyer’s fees.

The first, in response to the $121,000 earned by a lawyer hired by the court at $250 per hour to defend William Groseclose, set a maximum limit of $125 per hour and was enacted into law in April 1996 as part of the Effective Death Penalty Act.

The second, in response to the Sixth Circuit’s dismissal of ethics complaints against one of its district judges, would refer adjudication of ethical complaints against federal judges to a different federal circuit rather than allow the accused’s colleagues to evaluate them.

Bryant, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, arranged for Easley to testify on behalf of these measures in 1997 so that the committee members could hear the need for these changes directly from someone who had witnessed justice denied.

"I worked firsthand with Congressman Bryant to make a difference. He was there working for me when the federal courts failed to bring justice to my sister’s killers. He used his position as a Congressmen to improve the legal system so that other families, hopefully, will not have to go through all my family and I experienced."

Bryant commented, "As a former federal prosecutor, the distinction between the plight of victims and the guilt of the duly convicted is clear to me, and I stand firmly on the side of those seeking justice. Working with Rebecca and other victims’ advocates to pass stronger laws was a rewarding highlight of my service in Congress, but it was Rebecca’s compelling personal testimony which reminds us that our duty as legislators is to serve Tennesseans by upholding the rule of law."

Bryant added, "I’m honored Rebecca Easley has agreed to support my effort to represent Tennesseans in the U.S. Senate. She is an outstanding voice speaking out for law and order in the face of a legal system which increasingly – and wrongly – values the rights of criminals over the rights of crime victims."

Easley concluded, "Congressman Ed Bryant was a Godsend to us during a very difficult and frustrating ordeal working through the federal appeals process. We need someone like Ed on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. His leadership was very reassuring while he was in Congress, and it will be very reassuring to have him representing us in the U.S. Senate."

Rebecca Easley previously served on crime advisory panels for both former Senator Fred Thompson and Senator Bill Frist. Easley’s endorsement of Frist in 1994 is credited with helping significantly boost Dr. Frist in his historic victory over incumbent Democrat Senator Jim Sasser.

As a Member of Congress, Ed Bryant authored several other bills to correct injustices experienced by crime victims in Tennessee. These include the creation of the sentence of "life without possibility of parole" in the Uniform Code of Military Justice which was enacted into law in 1997 and a measure to double the penalties for escaping from federal custody which passed the House of Representatives in 1995 but was blocked in the Senate Judiciary Committee by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA).

Bryant was also a co-sponsor of the Effective Death Penalty Act, part of the Contract with America, which places reasonable limits on federal appeals in death penalty cases.

Easley’s endorsement of Ed Bryant joins those from other citizen leaders in Tennessee including taxpayer activist Ben Cunningham and former Van Hilleary congressional district director Janice Bowling and from conservative organizations such as the grassroots Madison Project and the political affiliate of the national conservative women’s organization, the Concerned Women for America.

Ed Bryant represented Tennessee’s 7th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives for eight years (1995-2003), including more than four years of service on the House Judiciary Committee where he played a key role as a manager in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Bryant served six years in the U.S. Army in the early 1970s, including two years at West Point as a professor of constitutional law. After his military service, Ed and his family returned to his home in Jackson, Tennessee, where he practiced law until President George H.W. Bush appointed him U.S. Attorney for West Tennessee in 1991. Resigning in protest over political interference in his prosecution of a Memphis Congressman, Ed Bryant was elected to Congress two years later as part of the revolutionary Republican class of 1994 which enacted historic tax cuts, reformed welfare, and ultimately balanced the federal budget for the first time in a generation.