Lawyering for the People : Kevin Cooper, the Death Penalty and Mass Incarceration

Lawyering for the People: Kevin Cooper, the Death Penalty & Mass Incarceration

A panel presented by the San Francisco Law School & UC Hastings Chapters of the National Lawyers Guild

When: Friday, November 6, 2015
Where: UC Hastings College of Law
Room A, 198 McAllister Street
San Francisco, CA
Time: 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Please join our esteemed panel for a discussion of the legal issues surrounding the wrongful conviction of Kevin Cooper, the death penalty and mass incarceration of People of Color.

In 1983, Kevin Cooper was convicted and sentenced to death row for the killing of a family of four in Chino Hills, San Bernardino County. He has maintained his innocence since his arrest. Mr. Cooper was scheduled to be executed in 2004, but was granted a stay of execution by the 9th Circuit. On May 11, 2009, his petition for habeas corpus was denied en banc, upon which five judges of the 9th Circuit dissented, stating that they believed he was innocent based on evidence tampering by the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department.

PANELISTS

KEVIN COOPER

Mr. Cooper will be participating on the panel from San Quentin.

AMIR VARICK AMMA, Organizer, All of Us or None

Mr. Amma is a survivor of New York State’s draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws, and was wrongfully sentenced to 25 years to life. After serving over 19 years, Mr. Amma was released from prison and earned his BA in Social Work from Lehman College. Mr. Amma has over 20 years of experience as a community activist for such organizations as ComAlert, the Drug Policy Alliance, and Samaritan Village out of NY.

BICKA BARLOW, Law Office of Bicka Barlow

Prior to establishing her private law practice specializing in forensic DNA evidence, Ms. Barlow was the San
Francisco Public Defender’s Office sole DNA Attorney for 8 years, and Research Attorney for the San Francisco Superior Court. She received her BS in Genetics from UC Berkeley, MS in Genetics and Developmental Biology from Cornell University, and JD from the University of San Francisco School of Law.

NORMAN C. HILE, Senior Counsel, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe

Mr. Hile has represented Mr. Cooper since 2003. Mr. Hile served on the Ninth Circuit Advisory Board from 2007 to 2011, and as Chair of the Judicial Advisory Board, Eastern District of California from 1998 to 2000. He received his BA from Yale University and JD from Columbia University.

CAROLE SELIGMAN, Kevin Cooper Defense Committee

Ms. Seligman is a retired elementary school teacher, parent and grandparent, is a member of the Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, the co-editor of Socialist Viewpoint magazine, and the office manager at Prison Radio.

For additional information, please contact San Francisco Law School NLG Representative Tarina Yasmoothr at tarinalarsen [at] gmail.com.