Demo For Kevin Cooper in LA

STOP THE EXECUTION!

> END THE RACIST DEATH PENALTY!

www.savekevincooper.org

>

WHAT: Kevin Cooper is scheduled to die at 12:01 AM on

> Tuesday February 10th. The Governor can grant a stay of

> execution at anytime before that time.

>

> Join a protest to Save the life of Kevin Cooper Near the

> Doorstep of Gov. Schwarzenegger

>

> Schwarzenegger unilaterally denied clemency without a

> normal hearing, as is the custom in California. Call on

> the governor to reconsider his unorthodox decision, which

> failed to consider the wishes of at least five jurors from

> Cooper's death penalty trial who want the execution halted

> while previously-ignored evidence in he case is examined.

>

> WHEN: 5 PM Sunday February 8th

>

> WHERE: Near Home of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

> Mandeville Canyon Rd and Chalon Rd.

>

> DIRECTIONs: 405 Fwy, Exit Sunset Blvd.

> West on Sunset 4-5 miles to Mandevile

> North on Mandeville Canyon Rd 1.6 Miles to

> Chalon Rd.

>

> BRING SIGNS and Your Letters for the Govenor.

>

> WHY: Nationwide, prosecutors have had the wrong man in 112

> capital murder cases, forcing innocent men and women to

> spend years on death row facing execution for crimes they

> did not commit.

>

> On February 10, the state of California plans to execute

> Kevin Cooper, a 45-year-old African American man who has

> been on death row for 20 years and whose case raises

> numerous questions about California's capital punishment

> system.

>

> On the night of June 4, 1983, Peggy, Doug and Jessica Ryen

> and a houseguest were brutally murdered in San Bernadino

> County. The youngest member of the family, Josh Ryen, 8,

> managed to survive. When local police learned that Kevin

> Cooper had walked off the grounds of a minimum security

> prison just days before the murders, Cooper became the

> primary suspect - despite the fact that Josh Ryen told

> police and his grandmother that three white or Latino men

> had killed his family.

>

> The State of California conducted DNA tests on Cooper, but

> the integrity of this evidence is highly questionable.

> Blood and saliva samples taken at the time of his

> arrest were released to a technician involved in the

> prosecution, and held for twenty-four hours without a

> court order or the knowledge of Cooper's legal team.

>

> Clumps of long, blond hair were found in the hands of one

> of the victims. Photographs of this hair, which clearly

> does not belong to Cooper, were never shown to the jury.

> The prosecution has refused to allow testing that could

> determine just whose hair it is.

>

> A pair of bloody coveralls submitted to the police by a

> woman claiming that they had been left at her house by her

> boyfriend around the time of the murders were tossed in a

> dumpster without any testing. The woman was never brought

> in to testify.

>

> Sponsored by the National Lawyers Guild-LA

> and the Rainbow Sisters Project

>Also:

> JOIN US FOR A RALLY, MARCH and VIGIL

>

> MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9

> RALLY AT 7:00 P.M. WESTWOOD FEDERAL BUILDING

> 11000 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90024

> (Corner of Veteran)

>

> MARCH AT 8:30 P.M.

> to ST. ALBANS CHURCH for a VIGIL

> 580 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024

>

> PARTICIPANTS WILL STAY UNTIL 12:01 A.M. OR WORD OF A STAY

> OF EXECUTION

> ____________________________________________________

> CONTACT GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER

>

> Governor Schwarzenegger Tel: (916) 445-2841

> State Capitol Building Fax: (916) 445-4633

> Sacramento, CA 95814 governor@governor@ca.gov