The Michigan Daily
Vol. XC, No. 20-S
Ann Arbor, Michigan--Thursday, June 5, 1980
Ten Cents
Sixteen Pages
Condenmied
killer Potts
~ our stay
ATLANTA (AP) - Convicted killer
Jack Howard Potts, who was to have
been executed- in Georgia's electric
chair today, won a reprieve last night
when a federal judge issued a stay
blocking the execution.
Potts had fired his attorneys and
dropped all appeal efforts last fall, but
he changed his mind last night and said
he would appeal to block his execution,
scheduled for this morning.
THE STAY WAS granted by U.S.
District Judge William O'Kelley, who
only hours before had refused to allow
American Civil Liberties Union attor-
neys to intervene on Potts' behalf. The
Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
New Orleans also had refused to issue a
stay of execution.
O'Kelley signed the stay after
receiving word that Potts had agreed to
participate in an appeal of his case. No
hearing date on the appeal was set im-
mediately.
Potts, 35, made an 11th-hour decision
rtcfmig up mtie pieces '
A Grand Island, Neb. family sifts through the wreckage that was their
home yesterday after tornadoes destroyed more than 250 homes and
businesses in the state's third largest city Tuesday night. See story, Page 5.
SFilibuster could shatter
draft registration plan
to resume appeals of his twin death sen-
tences for the 1975 kidnapping and
murder of 24-year-old Michael Priest of
Roswell, Ga.
POTTS' PETITION "raises
numerous constitutional questions
which should be reviewed in orderly
manner," O'Kelley said, adding the
execution "is stayed until further order
of the court."
Millard Farmer, an anti-death
penalty attorney from Atlanta, had
rushed from the Georgia State Prison
near Reidsville after 7 p.m. yesterday,
shouting, "We have consent from
Jackie Potts to file his appeal."
In a signed statement that accom-
panied the petition, Potts said he
discovered he could use media atten-
tion to force improvement in prison
conditions.
"HIS OWN EXECUTION became
associated in his mind with his ability to
relieve the suffering- of his fellow
prisoners," the statement said.
"Jackie Potts is not afraid to die,"
the signed statement continues,
referring to Potts in the third person.
"His newfound religious faith has given
him the courage to face death. He has
come to recognize, however, that he has
taken on a lot of responsibility for his
fellow prisoners. He now knows he has
the courage and ability to live with this
responsibility."
He had previously said that while he
did not want to die, he preferred that to
prolonging his imprisonment through
appeals.
POTTS' EXECUTION, scheduled for
today between 10 a.m. and noon, would
have been the first in Georgia in 16
years.
Farmer and colleague Andrea
Young, daughter of former U.S. Am-
bassador Andrew Young, had spent all
day at the Georgia State Prison waiting
to speak with Potts, who was huddled
with his family.
Attorneys familiar with the case say
Potts should be able to delay his
execution for at least two years by
pressing appeals in state and federal
courts.
From AP and UPI
WASHINGTON-President Carter's draft registration
plan became embroiled in its last major congressional battle
yesterday as opponents, lacking enough votes to kill it, began
a filibuster to try to talk it to death.
The Senate opened debate on a House-passed plan to
spend $13.3 million to begin registering 19- and 20-year-old
men at post offices this summer.
AN AMENDMENT TO require registration of women
along with men was promised by Sen. Nancy Landon
Kasssenbaum (R-Kan.), the Senate's lone woman member.
Carter has power to impose registration without
congressional approval, but administration officials said he
will not take the steps unleSs he gets funding for the move.
No one has been registered for military service since 1975
when then-President Gerald Ford signed a proclamation put-
ting the Selective Service System in "deep standby." Actual
conscription ended in 1973.
AS THE DEBATE opened, Senate Democratic Leader
Robert Byrd said registration would be a signal to the Soviet
Union and U.S. allies "of our determination to place our ar-
med forces in a state of preparedness in the event of a
military emergency."
"Reinstitutionof military registration will demonstrate
our resolve to back up our foreign policy pronouncements
with military strength," Byrd said.
Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-Ore.), leader of a filibuster again-
st the bill, conceded opponents are "in an uphill battle" in the
Senate, but said he hopes a delay will give the public time to
become aroused against registration.
HATFIED SAID THAT in political terms, "we have
isolated the president on this issue."
He noted that all of Carter's rivals for the White House,
from Republican Ronald Reagan to Democrat Edward Ken-
nedy to independent John Anderson, oppose registration.
See SENATE, Page 14 '