Stop the execution of Kevin Cooper. Impose a moratorium on the death penalty in California
- by: Joseph Zernik, PhD, Human Rights Alert (NGO)
- recipient: California Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger
UPDATES:
1) December 15, 2010 - Rabbi Michael Lerner, of Beyt Tikkun, Berkeley, and Tikkun (repair) Magazine, endorsed the petition.
2) December 17, 2010 - Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, UCLA Hillel, endorsed the petition, noting it as "important efforts".
3) December 19, 2010 - Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, Founder & President of Uri L'Tzedek (Orthodox Social Justice Movement), Los Angeles, endorsed the petition.
4) December 20, 2010 - Rabbi Sharon Brous, Ikar (The Essence) synagogue, Los Angeles endorsed the petition.
5) December 21, 2010 - Dr William S Epps, Pastor of the Second Baptist Church, Los Angeles, endorsed the petition.
6) January 10, 2011 - Rabbi Susan Leider, Temple Beth Am, Los Angeles endorsed the petition.
7) January 2011 -Target change: California Governor Jerry Brown (previously Governor Schwarzenegger)
8) March 2011 - Death Penalty Abolished in Illinois! Governor cites %u201Cbroken system%u201D
http://www.scribd.com/doc/50440837/
9) June 22, 2011 - New study by a US judge and law professor analyzes the Death Penalty in California:
http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/californias-costly-death-penalty/
10) June 24, 2011 Florida%uFFFDs death penalty is unconstitutional - Ruling by US Court
http://apublicdefender.com/2011/06/22/floridas-death-penalty-is-unconstitutional/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A APublicDefender %28a Public Defender%29
11) June 26, 2011 - Bill to end the Death Penalty in California introduced by Senator Loni Hancock!
http://inproperinla.blogspot.com/2011/07/11-06-26-bill-to-end-death-penalty-in.html
12) October 25, 2011 - The Next Death Penalty Battleground - California, by Alec Baldwin and Mike Farrell, published by the Huffington Post
13) December 16, 2011 - Judge Issues Tentative Decision Tossing California Lethal Injection Procedure -ABD Journal
14) December 2011 - In her end-of-the-year interview with the press on a number of topics, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said that “the death penalty is no longer effective in California and suggested she would welcome a public debate on its merits and costs.” So reports the Los Angeles Times in “California chief justice urges reevaluating death penalty.”
We, the undersigned call upon Governor Schwarzenegger to stop the execution of Kevin Cooper and impose a moratorium on the death penalty in California:
1. Reasonable doubts remain regarding the guilt of Kevin Cooper
The legal effort to prevent the execution of Kevin Cooper has run its course. Unless the governor of California intervenes, Cooper is likely to be put to death next year for the brutal 1983 murders of a Chino Hills couple, their 10-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old houseguest.
Just one eyewitness survived the horrific scene, a 9-year-old boy whose throat had been sliced. His initial account of the attack is one of many disturbing contradictions that led five federal judges to take issue with their colleagues' decision to put a stop to Cooper's appeals.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/12/EDG81GP0I7.DTL#ixzz18BGZmaQA
2. Corruption of the justice system in California has been well-documented for over a decade.
Official, scholarly, and media reports have documented the corruption of the justice system in California for over a decade. Reports of the Rampart corruption scandal (1998-2000) established that thousands of innocent persons were falsely imprisonment for long terms through framing of evidence, extraction of confessions under torture, and perjury of police. The victims - the Rampart-FIPs (Falsely Imprisoned Persons) - mostly blacks and Latinos, were estimated by various groups at 10,000-30,000. Regardless, judges of the Los Angeles Court have refuses to free the Rampart-FIPs, and the US Department of Justice refuses to take action either.
During his tenure as California Attorney General, Jerry Brown refused to take action regarding corruption of the California Courts. One of his first decisions as Governor Elect was to eliminate the state's Office of Inspector General.
Read more: Rampart-FIPs (Falsely Imprisoned Persons) - Review; Rampart-FIPs - Rampart First Trial PBS Frontline: Rampart False Imprisonments; 06-07-15 Rampart Reconsidered: LAPD's Blue Ribbon Review Panel Report (2006); 11-01-07 Superior Court of Los Angeles County, California: Widespread Public Corruption and Refusal of US Department of Justice to Take Action - Judgepedia; 09-09-11-Former-San-Bernardino-County-Superior-Court-Presiding-Judge-Michael-Welch-suspect-in-real-estate-fraud-cases-under-the-guise-of-court-actions
3. "Corruption of the courts and the legal profession" in California was noted in a recent report of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which called upon the US to abolish the death penalty.
As part of the first ever Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Human Rights in the United States by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, official report noted "corruption of the courts and the legal profession" in California.
The United Nations Human Rights Council also called upon the United States to abolish the death penalty.
Read more: http://www.scribd.com/doc/38566837/ ; http://www.scribd.com/doc/42218232/
4. Therefore, the Governor of California should stay the execution of Kevin Cooper and impose a moratorium on the death penalty in California.
Under conditions that today prevail in the justice system in Los Angeles County and California, it is inconceivable to continue with executions. California Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger should stop the execution of Kevin Cooper and impose a moratorium on the death penalty in California.
Human Rights Alert is dedicated to discovering, archiving, and disseminating evidence of Human Rights violations by the justice systems of the State of California and the United States in Los Angeles County, California, and beyond. Human Rights Alert focuses on the unique role of computerized case management systems in the precipitous deterioration of the integrity of the justice system in the United States.
http://www.scribd.com/Human_Rights_Alert
http://inproperinla.blogspot.com/
http://human-rights-alert.blogspot.com/
http://www.liveleak.com/user/jz12345
_____________________________
WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES?
* "On July 26, 2010, Laurence Tribe, Senior Counsel for the United States Department of Justice, Access to Justice Initiative, delivered an important speech to the Conference of Chief Justices, challenging them to halt the disintegration of our state justice systems before they become indistinguishable from courts of third world nations."
Prof Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law School (2010), per National Defender Leadership Institute
http://www.nlada.net/library/article/national_dojspeechto%20chiefjustice07-26-2010_gideonalert
_____________________________
WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA?
* "Innocent people remain in prison"
* "...the LA Superior Court and the DA office, the two other parts of the justice system that the Blue Panel Report recommends must be investigated relative to the integrity of the system, have not produced any response that we know of..."
LAPD Blue Ribbon Review Panel Report (2006)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/24902306/
* "...judges tried and sentenced a staggering number of people for crimes they did not commit."
Prof David Burcham, Dean, Loyola Law School, LA (2001)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/29043589/
* "This is conduct associated with the most repressive dictators and police states... and judges must share responsibility when innocent people are convicted."
Prof Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Irvine Law School (2001)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/274339
_____________________________
WHAT DID THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL STAFF REPORT SAY ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN CALIFORNIA?
* "...corruption of the courts and the legal profession and discrimination by law enforcement in California."
http://www.scribd.com/doc/38566837/
We, the undersigned call upon Governor Schwarzenegger to stay the execution of Kevin Cooper and impose a moratorium on the death penalty in California:
1. Reasonable doubts remain regarding the guilt of Kevin Cooper
The legal effort to prevent the execution of Kevin Cooper has run its course. Unless the governor of California intervenes, Cooper is likely to be put to death next year for the brutal 1983 murders of a Chino Hills couple, their 10-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old houseguest.
Just one eyewitness survived the horrific scene, a 9-year-old boy whose throat had been sliced. His initial account of the attack is one of many disturbing contradictions that led five federal judges to take issue with their colleagues' decision to put a stop to Cooper's appeals.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/12/EDG81GP0I7.DTL#ixzz18BGZmaQA
2. Corruption of the justice system in California was well-documented for over a decade.
Official, scholarly, and media reports have documented the corruption of the justice system in California for over a decade. Reports of the Rampart corruption scandal (1998-2000) established that thousands of innocent persons were falsely imprisonment for long terms through framing of evidence, extraction of confessions under torture, and perjury of police. The victims - the Rampart-FIPs (Falsely Imprisoned Persons) - mostly blacks and Latinos, were estimated by various groups at 10,000-30,000. Regardless, judges of the Los Angeles Court have refuses to free the Rampart-FIPs, and the US Department of Justice refuses to take action either.
Read more: Rampart-FIPs (Falsely Imprisoned Persons) - Review; Rampart-FIPs - Rampart First Trial PBS Frontline: Rampart False Imprisonments; 06-07-15 Rampart Reconsidered: LAPD's Blue Ribbon Review Panel Report (2006);11-01-07 Superior Court of Los Angeles County, California: Widespread Public Corruption and Refusal of US Department of Justice to Take Action - Judgepedia; 09-09-11-Former-San-Bernardino-County-Superior-Court-Presiding-Judge-Michael-Welch-suspect-in-real-estate-fraud-cases-under-the-guise-of-court-actions ;
3. "Corruption of the courts and the legal profession" in California was noted in a recent report of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which called upon the US to abolish the death penalty.
As part of the first ever Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Human Rights in the United States by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, official report noted %u201Ccorruption of the courts and the legal profession%u201D in California.
The United Nations Human Rights Council also called upon the United States to abolish the death penalty.
Read more: http://www.scribd.com/doc/38566837/ ; http://www.scribd.com/doc/42218232/
4. Therefore, the Governor of California should stay the execution of Kevin Cooper and impose a moratorium on the death penalty in California.
Under conditions that today prevail in the justice system in Los Angeles County and California, it is inconceivable to continue with executions.
California Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger should stay the execution of Kevin Cooper and impose a moratorium on the death penalty in California.
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