Friday: Sacto, LA Events Against Death Penalty

Please join us for these events on the
Statewide Day of Action Against the Death Penalty
Friday, March 25th!


Join a delegation of concerned individuals to visit the Governor's Los Angeles district office
to ask for a moratorium on executions!
Friday, March 25th at 11am
Delegation leader: Walter Johnson
Meet at the State Office Building
300 S. Spring Street Suite. #16701
Los Angeles, CA
Send an email to Eric at EDeBode [at] la-archdiocese.org if you would like to attend.


Join a delegation of concerned individuals to visit the Governor's Sacramento office
to ask for a moratorium on executions!
Friday, March 25th at 11am
Meet at the West Steps of the Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA
Send an email to Marilyn at galavda [at] winfirst.com if you would like to attend.

If you are planning a visit to one of the Governor's other offices in Fresno, Riverside, San Diego, or San Francisco, please email stefanie [at] deathpenalty.org


For more news on the Day of Action, please visit:
http://detention.la-archdiocese.org/Erics%20Stuff/Good%20Friday/Good%20Friday%20Page%201.htm


DPF's Press Release is below:


D E A T H P E N A L T Y F O C U S
870 Market St. Suite 859 San Francisco, CA 94102 • 415/243-0143 • http://www.deathpenalty.org

For Immediate Release
March 22, 2005

CATHOLICS’ RENEWED CALL TO END DEATH PENALTY JOLTS
CAMPAIGN TO STOP STATE KILLING IN CALIFORNIA
Good Friday ‘Day of Action’ Planned Against Death Penalty

“We cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing.”

(San Francisco) The renewed campaign by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to abolish the death penalty has electrified opponents of state killing in California and promises to increase pressure on public officials to declare a “time out” on executions. Launch of the Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty by leaders of the nation’s largest religious group was accompanied by new polling data that shows a precipitous drop in support for state killing by Catholics nationwide.

This coming Friday, in commemoration of the summary trial and execution of Jesus Christ, human rights, civil rights, religious and criminal justice organizations will conduct a statewide Day of Action to protest continuation of state killing in California. Coordinated by Death Penalty Focus, California People of Faith Working Against the Death Penalty, Equal Justice USA, Amnesty International USA and the California Catholic Conference of Bishops, the Good Friday action seeks to generate hundreds of letters and calls to Governor Schwarzenegger calling for an immediate “time out” on executions while the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice conducts its in-depth examination of the state’s flawed death penalty system.

“California and its death penalty proponents are clearly on the wrong side of history,” said Stefanie Faucher, Program Director for Death Penalty Focus, a national organization working to abolish state killing. Faucher pointed out that California's death penalty system is gearing up for several more executions this year, despite the fact that the newly-formed California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice will soon begin a bipartisan, legislatively-mandated study of the state’s criminal justice system – including a close examination of its problematic death penalty.

“Virtually all communities of faith and every human rights organization oppose the death penalty,” Faucher said. “We’re urging every voice of conscience to speak out and tell Governor Schwarzenegger to declare a ‘time-out’ on executions while our system of state killing is studied.” Opponents of state killing are being urged to phone the Governor in Sacramento at: 916-445-2841, email him at http://www.govmail.ca.gov , or visit one of his six offices.

While the Catholic Bishops have officially opposed the death penalty for 25 years, they’ve launched this new effort with “increased energy … and a renewed call to our people and to our leaders to end the use of the death penalty in our nation,” said Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. , on Monday. “The death penalty in our land is deeply flawed and ought to be abandoned. We cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing. We cannot defend life by taking life.”

For information about Friday’s Statewide “Day of Action,” call Stefanie Faucher at 415-243-0143.

###


Stefanie L. Faucher
Program Director

Death Penalty Focus
870 Market St. Ste. 859
San Francisco, CA 94102
Tel. 415-243-0143
Fax 415-243-0994
stefanie [at] deathpenalty.org
http://www.deathpenalty.org
http://www.californiamoratorium.org