Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Today: National Day of Action for Reginald Blanton



NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION – FAX AND PHONE JAM!
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14TH

Texas plans to take the life of death row prisoner Reginald Blanton on October 27th. Reginald’s case is riddled with injustice. He was convicted of killing his best friend Carlos Garza over jewelry. The evidence against him is of two witnesses, his brother and his brother’s then pregnant girlfriend. Both have said they were threatened by the police with being charged with the crime, and both had recanted their statements by the time of trial. He was convicted by an all white jury as a result of jury shuffles to exclude African-Americans from the jury. There was no DNA, no fingerprints, no murder weapon found. The only physical evidence, a shoe print on the door of Mr. Garza’s apartment, failed to match to Reginald. In addition, there were glaring problems with his appeals attorney at the state level.

Reginald’s case is also important because he is an activist on death row who helped found the DRIVE Movement which has held numerous hunger strikes and protests on death row.

Now is the time to put the pressure on. The Texas Death Penalty and Rick Perry, in particular, have come under public scrutiny because of the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. Willingham was executed for a fire that killed three of his children. The Texas Forensic Science Commission recently discovered that the fire was accidental, making Cameron Todd Willingham INNOCENT. Perry has since tried to cover up this state-sponsored murder by changing around the personnel on the Commission. We cannot let Perry kill another innocent man!

Hear Reginald’s mother, Anna Terrell's powerful plea for the life of her son at a rally at the Texas Capitol on Sept 26, 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCi-25uPPAU

Join us in telling the state of Texas that Reginald Blanton deserves a new day and court and to STOP THE EXECUTION!

Please write a clemency letter today, and be ready to bombard the office of Rick Perry and the BPP with phone calls and faxes next Wednesday. Together we can save the life of Reginald!!!!! And please, please, forward far and wide, to all your lists serve, forum, blogs, from here all the way to China.

Make phone/fax calls to Gov. Rick Perry’s Office:
Call 512-463-1782
Fax 512-463-1849.

Office of the Governor Main Switchboard: (512) 463-2000 (office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST)

Contact the Texas Board of Pardons & Paroles and tell them to grant Reginald Blanton clemency:
Call (512) 406-5852
Fax (512) 463 8120

http://drivemovement.org/

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