An innocent man on Death Row: Free Kevin Cooper!
2016Carole Seligman 2016-09Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 4 →
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The life of Kevin Cooper, an innocent man who has spent over 30 years on Death Row at San Quentin Pris on, robbed of most of his adult life, lies in the balance. Though clearly innocent, he was convicted of a horrific murder of three members of a family and their child guest, and has exhausted all his legal appeals. Several judges have dissented from decisions upholding this death sentence, stating: “California may be about to ex ecute an innocent man.”
How can the life of an innocent person, who has been framed and spent 30 years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit, be saved? And, saving his life, does not mean converting his death sentence to Life-WithoutParole, which many call “slow death row,” because the prisoner only leaves prison dead. Kevin Cooper must be freed, not executed, not kept in prison another day!
Norm Hile and David Alexander, Kevin’s lawyers ob tained through the Innocence Project, submitted a clem ency petition to California Governor Jerry Brown, in an effort to save his life.
California’s execution machinery has been halted for the past several years, but law enforcement is fighting to bring it back, placing it on the ballot with a deceptive name, “The Death Penalty Reform and Savings Initia tive” (California proposition 66). If they succeed, Kevin is going to be executed, unless Governor Brown grants 4 SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 2016 the petition.
The petition is a remarkable document. It is a compre hensive explanation of everything that can go wrong to execute an innocent person.
Most important: the petition completely proves Kevin Cooper’s innocence. Twelve sections explain the plant ing of evidence, the “questionable” treatment of evi dence, and the finding of new evidence. The petition gives seven examples of some of the innocent prison ers who were executed, including Cameron Todd Will ingham, Carlos DeLuna, Ruben Cantu, Claude Howard Jones, and David Spence in Texas, Leo Jones in Florida, and Troy Davis in Georgia. It also discusses the growing number of people exonerated after serving long prison terms for crimes they did not commit.
The petition includes the book by Patrick O’Connor, “The Chino Hills Murders and the Framing of Kevin Coo per,” who also wrote an excellent book about the frame up of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Exhibits include the “Final Mer its Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,” part of the Organization of American States, which calls for a review of the trial and sentence.
Significantly, two former prosecutors, both who sent innocent men to death row (one who was executed in Texas, and one who spent 30 years on death row in Louisiana), have written to Governor Brown in support of clemency, both convinced of Kevin’s innocence. Let ters of support have come as well from the American BAR Association, the California Lawyers Association for Criminal Justice, Bryan Stevens, and Andrea D. Lyon, Dean of Valparaiso University School of Law and the first woman in the U.S. to defend a death penalty case as lead counsel.
Benjamin Crump, president of the National Bar Asso ciation, wrote Gov. Brown: “Black Lives Matter is not a mere slogan. It reflects many forms of racial discrimina tion that continue to infect our criminal justice system. The disproportionate percentage of wrongful convic tions that affect black Americans, such as Mr. Cooper, is a disgrace at all levels and in all states. As a preeminent voice of African-American lawyers, the National Bar As sociation is especially concerned about this phenom enon. Mr. Cooper’s case is a leading example. ....”
Kevin Cooper, although suffering post-traumatic stress in the wake of coming within three hours and 42 min utes from lethal injection in 2004, became a passion ate supporter of human rights and a cogent writer and speaker against the barbarity of capital punishment. He writes about how the “justice system,” especially capi tal punishment, is “the last vestige of slavery,” used only against the poor.
This website publishes many essays by Kevin Cooper: www.savekevincooper.org. The clemency petition can also be read there. And the Prison Radio website, www. prisonradio.org, has audio recordings of Kevin reading his essays. n