Spain welcomes freed inmate

The Spanish citizen acquitted by a Tampa jury returns home, coinciding with President Bush's first stop on a European tour.

©Associated Press

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 10, 2001

MADRID, Spain -- Moments after Joaquin Jose Martinez was acquitted by a Florida jury after 37 months on death row, he appeared on Spanish television in a live hookup.

"You know you're the most famous person in Spain right now," the anchorman commented.

As Spain prepares to receive President Bush on the first stop of his European tour, the hero's welcome is going to a 29-year-old Spanish citizen who survived death row in the United States.

Almost overnight, Martinez has become a symbol of Spaniards' disdain -- shared across Europe -- for America's application of capital punishment, seen as barbaric and biased against the poor and nonwhites.

Martinez is expected to be mobbed today by fawning reporters and paparazzi when he steps off a plane from Miami at Madrid's Barajas airport.

By contrast, as Air Force One approaches Barajas on Monday night, protesters will crowd around the U.S. Embassy in a candlelight vigil following the scheduled execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

Martinez rocketed to stardom Wednesday when a Tampa jury cleared him in the 1995 killing of Sherrie McCoy-Ward and her boyfriend, Douglas Lawson, after Florida's Supreme Court overturned an earlier conviction.

A skillful American defense team argued in the retrial that the evidence had hinged on accusations of a jealous ex-wife and a poor quality tape recording.

Thousands of Spaniards chipped in with voluntary contributions to pay legal fees reportedly totaling around half a million dollars. Spain's King Juan Carlos and lawmakers campaigned on behalf of the defendant.

A key contributor to the defense fund was a Spanish film production company that has signed the rights for a documentary, provisionally titled Florida vs. Martinez.

Abolition of the death penalty is a requirement for membership in the 15-member European Union. EU member Germany is suing the United States at the International Court of Justice in The Hague following the executions of two German citizens in Arizona.

At a news conference with visiting Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson, Spain's conservative prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, welcomed the verdict but said he would not bring it up when he meets Bush on Tuesday.

However, the Swedish leader, who welcomes the U.S. president to his country on Thursday for a European summit, was less tactful about his views on capital punishment.

"My personal opinion is that it's something totally negative for a society," he said. "I think there are many people in Europe who would like to convey this to Mr. Bush."

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