Press Release
TEXAS TO KILL AN
INNOCENT MAN!
MEDIA ADVISORY
March 3, 2000
CONTACT: Abe Bonowitz
Pager: 888-319-1369
Messages: 800-973-6548
The execution of Odell Barnes,
a man who with very strong claims of actual innocence, is scheduled
to take place at 6:00 P.M. today in Huntsville, Texas. You can learn
more about the Barnes case at http://www.feastofpan.com/odellbarnes
"It seems that some in the media have tired of looking
beyond the rhetoric of George W. Bush http://www.cuadp.org/bush.html
when it comes to the death penalty," said Abe Bonowitz,
director of Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death
Penalty.
"The rest of the nation seems to be waking up to the
issue. In Herrera v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court left
executive clemency as the only remedy for those wrongly
sentenced to death, and Governor Bush of Texas today hides
behind a bureaucratic firewall. We call on Governor Bush to
come out of hiding and to stop this execution today."
Members of Anti-death penalty organizations throughout the
United States recently organized Wednesday, March 1st, in
celebration of International Death Penalty Abolition Day. It is
the 153rd anniversary of the date in 1847 when the State of
Michigan officially became the first English-speaking territory
in the world to abolish the death penalty.
Organizers of "Abolition Day" events point to the
State of Michigan as an example that viable alternatives to the
death penalty exist. "They got rid of the death penalty
because they learned too late that they had killed an innocent
man," said Bonowitz.
Michigan has been without the death penalty for 153 years.
The first act of their new legislature when Michigan became a
state was to abolish the death penalty.
FOR DETAILS ON THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL DEATH PENALTY
ABOLITION DAY, PLEASE VISIT www.cuadp.org
and click on "Abolition Day."
FOR SELECTED MARCH 1 EVENTS, CLICK HERE:
SELECTED MARCH 1 EVENTS INCLUDE:
MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA: 9am hearing on Moratorium and Lethal
Injection bills at joint meeting of House and Senate Judiciary
Committees: State Office Building at 11 Union St. Activities are
also planned in Selma for March 3-5. Contact: Judy Cumbee
334-499-2380 judysi@mindspring.com
and/or Lucia Penland 334-264-7416. WEST
PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: Noon-hour protest at County
Courthouse Contact Carolyn Gray of Floridians for Alternatives to
the Death Penalty (FADP) at 800-973-6548 for details.
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA: Speakers/rally in the Capitol
Rotunda from 4:30-6:30pm Contact: Karen Burkhart, AIUSA's State
Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator, at 317-839-1618.
DETROIT, MICHIGAN: 12:15 pm Mass at St. Aloysius Catholic
Church in downtown Detroit. An interfaith service at Central United
Methodist Church will follow at 1:30 pm featuring Michigan Attorney
General Jennifer Granholm, Wayne County Prosecutor John O'Hair and
Sonia Jacobs, an innocent survivor of Florida's death row. Contact
Sally Peck of Michigan People of Faith Against the Death Penalty at
248-477-8232 or speck@peck.cncfamily.com.
OMAHA, NEBRASKA: RALLY from 5 to 6pm, at 72nd and Dodge
Contact: Marylyn Felion of Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty at
402-551-5834
CLEVELAND, OHIO: Public event featuring George White, who
was wrongfully convicted in the murder of his wife. 7-9pm, Jardine
Room at John Carroll University Contact: Charles Murray of the
Cleveland Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty at(216) 696-6525
ext. 4040
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA: Rally beginning at 11 AM outside the
General Assembly Building on 9th between Grace & Broad followed
by visits to legislators. It is also possible that Senate Courts of
Justice will meet that afternoon to discuss HB1311 (Capital Case
Bill of Review). Contact: Henry Heller of Virginians for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP) at 888-567-VADP or www.vadp.org.
***** For more information, please page Abe Bonowitz at
888-319-1369. Free information is available to the public from Citizens
United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CUADP), a
Florida-based national organization working to increase the level of
informed dialogue about viable alternatives to the death penalty.
CUADP may be reached toll-free at 800-973-6548 or on the internet at
www.cuadp.org.
POSTED BY: Abraham J. Bonowitz
Director
Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty |
