The legal community is now on at the barricades, 24 hours a day, fighting to save the life of Kevin Cooper and the good fight for all humanity as the death penalty is dead wrong. A new federal appeal has been filed in the 9th Circuit.
Per the Breaking News in the San Francisco Chronicle, 2/7/04 at,
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/02/07/cooper07.DTL "The appeal asks the court for an order halting the execution and for permission to file a second habeas corpus petition challenging Cooper's conviction" as federal law usually allows for only one habeas appeal. According to Black's Law Dictionary, a habeas corpus writ is used to bring a party before a court or judge, and the primary function is to release the party from unlawful imprisonment. The issue is not guilt or innocence but whether a person is denied liberty by due process. As we know, due process is guaranteed by the Constitution in the 14th Amendment, one of the 3 anti-slavery Amendments, the others being the 13th and 15th Amendments.
Cooper also has a state habeas petition pending, and the state law has no limit on habeas petitions.
Show your opposition to the death penalty and this execution as well as your support for these appeals by calling or E-mailing or the Governor for a stay of execution, which he can do at any time before the execution. Call Gov. Schwarzenegger at 916-445-2841 or 415/703-2218 or e-mail
governor@governor.ca.gov Where there is life, there is hope. Literally the whole world is watching. California has been known as a bellwether state. Let's show the world that the 35 million people of California will not allow this execution to take place in our name and with our tax dollars. Most of us cannot do much but we most likely can certainly make a phone call . All you have to say is:
Stay the Execution of Kevin Cooper!