Help stop innocent execution from racist ass death penalty

  • Wanna Join? New users you can now register lightning fast using your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
JoMoDo

JoMoDo

Sicc OG
#1
Jul 10, 2002
2,180
18
0
45
#1
Who says times have changed?
by Kevin Cooper

In 1857, the United States Supreme Court declared that the slave Dred Scott could not sue for his freedom because he was not a person, but property.
Justice Tanney took that statement one step further by writing that a Black man had no rights that a white man is bound to respect. This pre-Civil War decision is still in effect today. It is practiced by the courts in this country each and every day.
I, Kevin Cooper, the next Black man to be executed by this state, don't feel like a person either. I feel like a piece of expendable property that this state is about to dispose of.
Every court that has heard my case and denied my appeals has done so in whatever manner that they saw fit. Even when they knew that my rights were denied in every court area in this state.
The California Supreme Court did something to uphold my conviction that the prosecutor at my trial could not do in order to obtain my conviction. They invented a motive. Then the Republican federal district court judge who heard my next set
of appeals refused to rule on the destruction of those bloody coveralls.
When my attorneys put another petition in front of the judge asking her to rule on it, she denied that petition as secessive.
The three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals also refused to rule on the destruction of those coveralls, even though we proved to them that they were ordered destroyed by the police. Two of those justices either used bad law, or they made up law in order to uphold my conviction.
The one judge who dissented on my case stated, "Kevin Cooper may very well be executed without the very colorful evidence that someone else confessed to the murders ever being heard in any court on its merit!" This is in connection to the coveralls.
The full 9th Circuit refused to hear my appeals, and so has the U.S. Supreme Court. Here, in 2004, I have come to the very real conclusion thatI, Kevin Cooper, a Black man, am suffering the same fate at the hands of courts that my brother Dred Scott suffered in 1857. We Black men have no rights that the courts will respect! We all know who runs the courts, don't we? In struggle from Death Row at San Quentin Prison, Kevin Cooper
To contact Kevin Cooper, write to: Kevin Cooper, C-65304, 1-EB-95, San Quentin Prison, San Quentin CA 94974. To get involved in the movement to stop his execution, which is scheduled for Feb. 10, call (510) 450-0595,
email [email protected] or visit www.nodeathpenalty.org or
www.savekevincooper.org


Save Kevin Cooper!
by Brother Jahahara Alkebulan-Ma'at

We are in a major push to STOP THE EXECUTION OF BROTHER KEVIN COOPER. The State of California wants to "recognize" Black History Month by murdering another wrongfully convicted Black man. The government lynching is scheduled to come at midnight on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at San Quentin. So, your leadership, creativity and positive energy is especially needed at this time.
What specifically can you do? You and members of your organization, church, union, club, business, etc. can immediately let Gov. Schwarzenegger know you are opposed to this execution. Call him at (916) 445-2841 or [email protected].
And attend and bring your family and friends to these upcoming events:
Students at San Francisco State University are sponsoring a Spoken Word fundraiser this Friday, Jan. 30, 5 p.m., at Jack Adams Hall, upstairs in the Student Center. Please join our young people as they express their opposition to the state's proposed murder of Kevin Cooper. A donation of $5 to $15 is requested, but no one will be turned away.
On Saturday, students from UC Berkeley are the chief organizers for the "Live From Death Row" event at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, on Dana between Durant and Channing Way. We are hoping that Kevin can call in from San Quentin to this special assembly.
Then, on next Tuesday, Feb. 3, beginning at 4:30 p.m., we will all gather at the State of California building, Van Ness and McAllister in San Francisco, for a press conference and mass rally. Please help us show the governor that we don't tolerate state-sanctioned murder in the land of Ancestor Queen Calafia. Your presence will be greatly appreciated.
You can hook up with the growing movement at www.savekevincooper.org.
 
M

Mcleanhatch

Sicc OG
#3
May 8, 2002
4,729
0
0
49
#3
HE BROKE INTO THE HOUSE OF A COUPLE AND KILLED THEM BOTH, HE KILLED THEIR 12 YEAR OLD AND KILLED A VISITING 8 YEAR OLD.

DURING HIS APPEALS HE ASKED FOR DNA TESTING. SO IT WAS DONE AND IT CAME BACK WITH THE VICTIMS BLOOD ON HIS SHIRT, AX (I THINK THAT WAS HIS WEAPON OF CHOICE), TRUNK OF HIS CAR.

YOU GUYS SHOULD USE YOUR ENERGY TO TRY AND SAVE SOME1 WHO REALLY IS INNOCENT
 
M

Mcleanhatch

Sicc OG
#4
May 8, 2002
4,729
0
0
49
#4
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/10/26/48hours/main244209.shtml

(CBS) For nearly as long as he's been an inmate on San Quentin's death row, Kevin Cooper has insisted he did not kill the Ryens, and that DNA tests would prove his innocence - tests that the State of California refused to do.

"I am not a murderer. I did not kill those people, and all the evidence that we prove or use to prove that I didn't do it, they don't want to test," says Cooper, who spoke to 48 Hours over the phone because cameras were not allowed into San Quentin.

"They are supposed to care about justice, aren't they? I do believe that if there is any justice, people need to look at my case."

Why should someone believe him?

"I'm not asking anyone to believe me," says Cooper. "I'm asking people to look at the evidence."

And will he continue to fight if DNA tests happen to show his DNA?

"I say this with all the confidence in the world," he says. "I, Kevin Cooper, was never inside the home that I now know is the Ryen home."

"We're seeking the truth. We need the DNA testing to prove something," says Mary Howell. "I don't take no for an answer. I want the truth. I'll never be satisfied until I do."

Just months after 48 Hours first aired this report in the fall of 2000, Cooper got his wish.

The State of California reversed itself and agreed to do DNA testing on evidence found at the murder scene.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the young man who lost his mother, father and sister in one night of unspeakable horror, the ocean has always been a sanctuary - the only place where Josh Ryen can escape the questions that haunt his past and cloud his future.

But Josh, who just turned 29, is finally breaking his silence.

For the first time ever, he has agreed to speak publicly about what happened to his family and friend that terrible evening on June 4, 1983.

"My throat was slashed, I was stabbed and I was hit with an ax," he says. "I think it was a screwdriver that they said punctured my back, my lung, broke three ribs."

He says he wonders sometimes how he ever managed to survive. But the miracle worker in his life is his now 89-year-old grandmother, Dr. Mary Howell, who has raised and nurtured Josh since he lost everyone else in his family.

"She's been everybody to me," he says. "My whole family."

Josh, now living on his own, sees his grandmother every week. When he's not working on his job in construction, he's often alone at the beach or riding his motorcycle.

Does he think of his family? "Yes, probably every day," he says. "There's something that reminds me of my sister, my mom and my dad and my friend Chris."

And with equal frequency, other pictures come to mind - scenes from the night that forever changed his life. Josh, nearly 9 at the time of the murders, recalls being awakened by what he believes was his mother's scream. He ran to his parents' bedroom where he found them in a pool of blood.

"Waking up, seeing them in the same room, sticks in my head more than anything else," says Josh, who remembers hiding in a closet until he heard his best friend Chris yell his name.

"I think two times, 'Josh, Josh,'" and then I don't remember, so I must have been attacked again at this point."

As painful as the memories are, what Josh struggles with today is what he can't remember. And it's what everyone wants to know. Is Kevin Cooper the killer? And did he act alone?

"I wish I could remember," he says. "I don't know if they think I have the answers or that it's in my head. It won't come back to me, though."

Josh says he doesn't remember seeing Kevin Cooper from that night - only a shadow.

"I want to know if he really did it," he says. "I couldn't live with myself knowing that there could have been a chance that he didn't do it. That's not right."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But he is finally getting some answers. California investigators have completed tests on three crucial pieces of evidence.

According to a report issued late last year, the DNA found in the following samples - a drop of blood, on two cigarette butts and on the blood-stained beige T-shirt - points to one perpetrator, Kevin Cooper.

But while DNA evidence solved some of the mystery, and clears Lee Furrow, both Josh and Dr. Mary believe that Cooper did not act alone.

"I just can't see one man doing all that he did," says Mary.

"Cooper was there," says Josh. "It's time for him to be punished. But the hair needs to be tested."

The hair that Josh is referring to is what was found in his sister Jessica's hand. It is obviously not Cooper's and if not Jessica's, the hair may belong to another killer.

But so far, that's one test the State of California refuses to do. They say they have their killer.

"Someone else was there," says Josh. "Her hand is clinched fighting for her life with hair in it. So I want to know. I need to know."

As for Kevin Cooper, he still insists he's innocent and that if his DNA was found on evidence, someone put it there. He is still appealing his conviction.

But Josh now says that if Cooper is scheduled to be executed, he will be there to watch him die. "He watched," says Josh. "He was part of it somehow. And he saw what was in that house. So he needs to pay for it."

"I'll be there with him," adds Mary. "Not that I like it, but I'll be there to support him. Because he always says, 'It's you and me, grandma. It's you and me.' So I would be with him."

"It's just what he took from me," says Josh. "I feel empty in a way, but I have my grandmother. That makes me feel whole."

For all the publicity and media coverage about the use of DNA to free innocent inmates from wrongful convictions, the Kevin Cooper case is a powerful reminder of an important flip-side to DNA testing. Unofficial estimates show that it reaffirms an inmate's guilt in six out of 10 cases.


© MMIII, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 
JoMoDo

JoMoDo

Sicc OG
#9
Jul 10, 2002
2,180
18
0
45
#9
Although the tests were not thourough (even to the point were 3 jurors are willing to pay for the new tests themselves).. He maintains his innocence. He is Black, Mr. Ryen (the only surviving victim) claims that there were 3 attackers all of whom are/were hispanic and/or white people. He is the only one soley charged for the crimes when evidence indicates the manner of the killings were phyically impossible for one person to do.

Systematic Racism at if finest!

VENGENCE does not equal JUSTICE no matter how you slice it!
 
W

WHITE DEVIL

Sicc OG
#10
Dec 25, 2003
12,356
218
0
70
#10
In an interview on TV he said he doesn't remember the race or appearance of the attackers. Where did you hear that hispanic/white thing? In any case DNA tests were conclusive, tests he asked for himself pointed to him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom