Save Kevin Cooper

[nofurylike]

sorry if dupe.
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info:
http://www.savekevincooper.org/index.html
http://www.savekevincooper.org/articles.html

You can contact the Save Kevin Cooper campaign by:

Phone: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

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http://www.socialistworker.org/2004-1/486/486_01_KevinCooper.shtml

Saved from execution, but still on death row
We won’t let Kevin Cooper die
By Alan Maass | February 13, 2004

THE MAN the state of California was determined to murder has been saved from execution. But Kevin Cooper remains on death row--and we won’t let him die.
With pressure building around the state, across the U.S. and even internationally, a federal appeals court stepped in February 9 to stop Kevin’s execution and require testing of evidence that his lawyers say will prove he is innocent in the murder of four people in 1983. A few hours later, the Republican-dominated U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the appeals court decision.
Kevin’s life was spared--no thanks to California officials who were ready to see him dead rather than allow an investigation that could expose a 20-year-old frame-up by racist police and fanatical prosecutors.
California’s new Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t even bother to hold a hearing before turning down Kevin’s clemency petition--something that hasn’t happened since capital punishment was reinstated in the 1970s, say opponents of the death penalty. And when the appeals court first blocked the execution on Monday morning, it was Democratic state Attorney General Bill Lockyer who went to the Supreme Court to demand that Kevin be killed.
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Because of the public campaign of activism to expose the problems in the case against Kevin, the reality began to seep into the media. The San Francisco Chronicle even published editorials urging readers to call on Schwarzenegger to grant clemency--along with an article that pointed out Kevin’s powerful writings, available on the Web at http://www.savekevincooper.org./
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The fact is that there are Kevin Coopers across the U.S.--innocent men and women are trapped in the criminal justice system, targeted by fanatical prosecutors, unable to afford competent lawyers, victims of racist police and "get-tough" laws pushed by Democrats and Republicans alike. Kevin’s case is the perfect illustration of why the criminal justice system doesn’t deliver justice--and why the death penalty must be abolished across the U.S.

Todd Chretien, Danielle Heck, Eric Ruder and Lee Sustar contributed to this report.

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