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Stop the legal lynching of Kevin Cooper
Hundreds protested at the California State Building in San Francisco on Feb. 3, at a media conference in conjunction with statewide actions in defense of Kevin Cooper. Cooper is scheduled to be executed by the state on Feb. 10, despite a mountain of evidence suggesting that he is not guilty of the murders he was convicted of.
The San Francisco protest was part of a statewide series of demonstrations in support of Kevin Cooper on Feb. 3. Four anti-death penalty activists were arrested that day for blocking the gates of San Quentin prison.
On Jan. 30, California's new pro-death-penalty Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency to Kevin Cooper. After refusing to hold a hearing about the facts of the case earlier that day, Schwarze negger said, "I can find no compelling reason to grant clemency."
On Feb. 2, Cooper's attorneys filed a state Supreme Court appeal over disputed evidence--including the fact that police ignored a confession of another prisoner, whose girlfriend approached police with a pair of bloody coveralls that he came home in the morning of the murder.
The appeal also challenges the DNA testing that has been used to imply Cooper's guilt. The evidence was removed from the lab for 24 hours previously by a criminologist who had previously admitted to tampering with evidence on Cooper.
In addition, Cooper's lawyers have filed a federal court suit over California's lethal injection procedures, stating that one of the substances used in California lethal injections--pancuronium bromide--can result in a death that is agonizing.
Speaker after speaker at the rally in San Francisco pointed out the racist and anti-poor character of the death penalty in the United States. They also stressed the state's eagerness to kill yet another Black man when it could easily conduct a quick and inexpensive test, at the very least, to resolve the issue of evidence tampering.
Cooper's case has garnered the support of many throughout California and beyond, including former death row inmate Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Harry Belafonte, the Rev. James Lawson Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Council and Howard Wallace of Pride at Work, AFL-CIO.
Full-page ads have been placed in the New York Times and the San Jose Mer cury News decrying the execution, signed by over 1,000 individuals, churches, unions and community organizations. Four of the jurors at Cooper's trial have asked that the execution be halted so that previously ignored evidence can be examined.
A study released in the current issue of the Santa Clara University Law Review by attorney Robert Sanger documents more than 80 deficiencies in the California death penalty system, concluding that it fails to offer even the most basic legal and procedural safeguards for those facing the death penalty. There are currently more than 625 people on death row in California, the highest number in any state.
On Feb. 9, the evening before the scheduled execution, people from across Calif ornia will converge on San Quentin, where Cooper is currently imprisoned, to demand a stay of execution. For more information visit http://www.savekevincooper.org.
http://www.workers.org/ww/2004/cooper0212.php
On Jan. 30, California's new pro-death-penalty Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency to Kevin Cooper. After refusing to hold a hearing about the facts of the case earlier that day, Schwarze negger said, "I can find no compelling reason to grant clemency."
On Feb. 2, Cooper's attorneys filed a state Supreme Court appeal over disputed evidence--including the fact that police ignored a confession of another prisoner, whose girlfriend approached police with a pair of bloody coveralls that he came home in the morning of the murder.
The appeal also challenges the DNA testing that has been used to imply Cooper's guilt. The evidence was removed from the lab for 24 hours previously by a criminologist who had previously admitted to tampering with evidence on Cooper.
In addition, Cooper's lawyers have filed a federal court suit over California's lethal injection procedures, stating that one of the substances used in California lethal injections--pancuronium bromide--can result in a death that is agonizing.
Speaker after speaker at the rally in San Francisco pointed out the racist and anti-poor character of the death penalty in the United States. They also stressed the state's eagerness to kill yet another Black man when it could easily conduct a quick and inexpensive test, at the very least, to resolve the issue of evidence tampering.
Cooper's case has garnered the support of many throughout California and beyond, including former death row inmate Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Harry Belafonte, the Rev. James Lawson Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Council and Howard Wallace of Pride at Work, AFL-CIO.
Full-page ads have been placed in the New York Times and the San Jose Mer cury News decrying the execution, signed by over 1,000 individuals, churches, unions and community organizations. Four of the jurors at Cooper's trial have asked that the execution be halted so that previously ignored evidence can be examined.
A study released in the current issue of the Santa Clara University Law Review by attorney Robert Sanger documents more than 80 deficiencies in the California death penalty system, concluding that it fails to offer even the most basic legal and procedural safeguards for those facing the death penalty. There are currently more than 625 people on death row in California, the highest number in any state.
On Feb. 9, the evening before the scheduled execution, people from across Calif ornia will converge on San Quentin, where Cooper is currently imprisoned, to demand a stay of execution. For more information visit http://www.savekevincooper.org.
http://www.workers.org/ww/2004/cooper0212.php
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