Tag Archives: Innocence

TWO YEARS OF WAITING ON THE CCA: march and rally planned in Bastrop

There have been few updates on this site since Rodney Reed won a historic stay of execution in February of 2015. His lawyers have filed motions and his supporters have held rallies. Rodney’s father passed away, his mother’s house flooded, and children and grandchildren have been added to the Reed family. But in TWO YEARS, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) has done nothing to look into the DNA evidence that it begrudgingly considered strong enough to warrant delaying an unjust execution. And still Rodney Reed, and innocent man, sits in a tiny cell on Texas death row.

In October 2016, new voices were added to those calling for Reed’s release. Crime Watch Daily reported that one juror who voted to send Reed to death row now she says she has regrets. “I voted guilty,” she says. “I stand by the decision because I based it on the evidence presented and what I knew at the time. Since then there have been a lot of things that I’ve learned in that 20 years, heard about, that have made me wonder if Rodney was framed.”

Rodney’s family and supporters will call attention to these disgraceful two years by holding a march and rally in Bastrop, Texas. Join us for a community cookout on Saturday, March 11, 3:00PM-9:00PM at the Kerr Community Center, 1308 Walnut St, Bastrop. Bring a dish or a cash donation for the potluck.

RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/185225585299528/?

Updates happen most frequently on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/texasinjustice/

Updated: Thanks to everyone who came out in the rain to show their support. We had our cookout indoors and spirits were high!

Ball in the CCA’s Court: the struggle continues for Rodney Reed

Leave a reply

A new piece from the Campaign to End the Death Penalty outlines the current status of the case of Rodney Reed and describes all the hard work by activists, lawyers, filmmakers, investigators and journalists that lead the recent stay of execution and the uncovering of new evidence.

Lily Hughes, national director of the CEDP, clarifies where Rodney’s case is in the Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA):

Although Rodney has been given a stay of execution, the fight is far from over. The Court has agreed to look at Rodney’s new appeal, but there are no guarantees of a favorable ruling. One possibility is that the court could look at the evidence and opt to deny relief, as they have done in the past.

Another possibility is that the CCA could order a new trial. This wouldn’t be unwelcome to Rodney and his supporters. However, if the evidence of innocence is strong enough to warrant a new trial, then it would make better sense for the court to reverse the conviction altogether.

The best possible outcome from the CCA would be a reversal of Rodney’s conviction and for Rodney to be released from prison. In this event, the Bastrop County district attorney could still opt to take Rodney to trial again, in which case activists should demand that the DA drop Rodney’s indictment completely.

The article is a great comprehensive of the history of the campaign to demand justice for Rodney, a campaign that continues!

The various options before the Court make the ongoing activist campaign for Rodney paramount. Rodney’s family and supporters are prepared to carry on the fight. As Rodney’s brother Rodrick Reed said at a rally in February, “If we don’t stand up today, we’re going to lay down tomorrow for anything they’re going to make us lay down for. And I ain’t a laying down kind of guy. I’m a fighter, I come from a family of fighters!”

This site will be updated as soon as the Court issues a ruling.

A rally for justice outside the Texas State Capitol in February 2015

Sandra and Rodrick Reed address a crowd outside the Texas Governors Mansion in February, 2015. Photo by Jaynna Sims

“My brother is still locked up, and the fight must continue until we bring him home…after that, we still must fight for justice.”

1 Reply

Rodrick Reed, brother of Rodney, spoke to a University of Texas at Austin students last night.

“A lot of people have relaxed, thinking he’s on his way home, but we still have to fight,” Rodrick said. “My brother is still locked up, and the fight must continue until we bring him home, and even after that, we still must fight for justice.”

“Without the public, my brother wouldn’t have stood a chance,” Rodrick said. “They would have probably executed him on March 5. [Rodney said to me,] ‘I’ve lost both my grandmothers in [jail.] Now I’ve lost my dad, and I’ve lost several uncles, and my family is going away, but I have not lost hope.’”

Rodrick was joined by Ben Wolff of the Texas Defender Service and Ana Hernandez of the UT chapter of Amnesty International. “Here’s the urgency about this: No one’s won,” Wolff said. “Rodney’s still on death row, and he’s still there unjustly and an innocent man. The first time the state of Texas seeks to execute someone, they have to give at least 90 days’ notice. The second time, … 30 days.”

Hernandez added “I think that stressing the indignity of his current situation and the fact that it is unjust for an innocent person to face those circumstances for over 18 years — I think that finding a way to convey that kind of urgency is important. There is no end date for your activism.”

The panel followed a die-in hosted a few days earlier in one of the University’s busy pedestrian areas. The die-in highlighted Rodney’s case but also the oppressive conditions of Texas death row. A 6 foot by 10 foot area was marked off on the ground, representing the size of a death row cell. Demonstrators lay down on the pavement for 10 minutes with signs about Rodney and the racist application of the death penalty.

Die-in at University of Texas brings attention to Rodney Reed and the horror of solitary confinement on TX death row

1 Reply

Students at the University of Texas at Austin will hold a die-in on Thursday, April 23, to show their continued support of death row prisoner Rodney Reed. The students will table in the hour leading up to the die-in, which starts at 12:15 pm. The event will include a replica of the floor plan of cells on Texas death row to highlight the harsh conditions of death row, as profiled in this report by the ACLU. Texas has some of the most restrictive policies in the nation, with prisoners held in solitary confinement for 23 hours per day, in tiny cells with one small window, no television, no air conditioning, and no contact visits. No prisoners should live in this way, especially not an innocent man like Rodney. Although grateful for his stay of execution, activists say Rodney shouldn’t spend one more day in his 6′ x 10′ cage. More information about the students’ die-in is available on Facebook.

You can see inside the Polunsky Unit, home to Texas death row, courtesy of this blog post at Minutes Before Six. The pictures were obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request and annotated by a Texas death row prisoner.

A panel discussion on Rodney, featuring Rodney’s brother Rodrick Reed and UT Amnesty International Vice President Ana Hernandez, will take place at UT on Monday, April 27 at 7:00 pm. Details are available here.

The Campus Coordinating Committee to Free Rodney Reed has hosted many actions on UT campus over the past several months, including a flash mob, collecting Valentines for prisoners, and an all-night vigil. Email cpoirot@utexas.edu for more info.

Outside the Court of Criminal Appeals, supporters kneel inside a 6′ x 10′ area representing the size of cells on Texas death row

A group of supporters gather outside the Court of Criminal Appeals in the Texas Capitol Complex to demand justice for Rodney, March 28, 2015

Review of Rodney Reed case begins; protest of Court scheduled for Mar.28

Leave a reply

Details are few, but Fox reports that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) will begin its review of Rodney’s case. A ruling as to whether the court will accept the affidavits filed on February 12 by Rodney’s defense is expected sometime in April. Rodney’s supporters will remind the CCA that the world is still watching this case with a protest on Saturday, March 28. Protesters will gather outside the CCA building in Austin at 1:00 PM to demand freedom for Rodney Reed.

Rodney Reed was granted a stay by the CCA just ten days before his scheduled execution of March 5th, in a 6-3 vote. This temporary reprieve is a victory for Rodney’s family and the hundreds of thousands of people who believe Rodney’s case is a gross miscarriage of justice. However, Rodney remains on death row, spending 23 hours each day in a 6ft x 10ft cell. Conditions on Texas death row are among the harshest in the United States, with prisoners kept in near solitary confinement. This has been Rodney’s reality for almost 18 years. The CCA has the power to allow DNA testing in Rodney’s case and we must demand they do this, and do it quickly.

Death Penalty Opponents host “Day of Innocence” at the Texas State Capitol featuring Death Row Exonerees

Leave a reply

On Tuesday, March 3, a group of death row exonerees called on Texas lawmakers to abolish the death penalty. Witness to Innocence members Ron Keine and Sabrina Butler were joined by Texas State Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston), family members and friends of death row prisoners, and Mark Clements, board member of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty and one of Rodney Reed’s fiercest advocates.

The group lobbied Texas lawmakers to approve legislation that would abolish the death penalty and prohibit the “law of parties” from being used in capital cases. This controversial law, unique to Texas in its application, allows people convicted of aiding or abetting in a murder committed by another person to be sentenced to death.

Sabrina Butler is the first and only woman to be exonerated from death row. Convicted when she was just 17 years old, she served over six years in prison in Mississippi before being cleared of all wrong doing.

Reports Austin’s KVUE:

Despite being the only woman in the U.S. exonerated after being sentenced to death, Butler’s life will never be the same. She has trouble finding employment, because she must still admit her conviction on job applications.

“That’s the part that makes me feel still like I’m in prison, because this will affect my life, not only my life, my children’s life,” Butler said.

Ron Keine spent two years on death row in New Mexico before being exonerated after a police officer admitted that he had actually committed the murder. “[The cop] went to the nearest church and confessed,” Keine said. “That’s what got me out. It wasn’t any maneuvering by lawyers.”

Texas State Rep. Harold shakes hands with Mark Clements at a press conference to show his support for abolition of the death penalty in Texas. Mark Clements spent 28 years in prison serving a juvenile life without parole sentence before he was finally cleared as Sabrina Butler looks on. Scott Cobb of the Texas Moratorium Network is at the podium. Photo by Ralph Barrera for the Austin American Statesman

Texas State Rep. Harold shakes hands with Mark Clements at a press conference to show his support for abolition of the death penalty in Texas. Sabrina Butler looks on. Scott Cobb of the Texas Moratorium Network is at the podium. Photo by Ralph Barrera for the Austin American Statesman.

Ron Keine, assistant director with Witness to Innocence, speaks in support of abolishing the death penalty at a press conference at the state Capitol on Tuesday, March 3, 2015. Photo by Ralph Barrera for the Austin American Statesman.

Rep. Harold Dutton told the Dallas Morning News, “I don’t want the state executing people in my name. You can go all the way through the system and be factually innocent and end up on death row, which is evidence by some of the people here. How many people has Texas executed who might have been innocent?” The Dallas Morning News, whose editorial position has been firmly anti-death penalty since 2007, created this revealing graphic that, in their words, “gives a lot to chew on”. Texas has executed 521 men and women since capital punishment was reinstated in 1973.

People with the Witness to Innocence speak in support of abolishing the death penalty including Mark Clements, right, who spent 28 years in prison serving a juvenile life without parole sentence before he was finally cleared, and Sabrina Butler, the only woman exonerated from death row, at left. Photo by Ralph Barrera for the Austin American Statesman

Mark Clements speaks in support of abolishing the death penalty. At left is Sabrina Butler, the only woman exonerated from death row. Photo by Ralph Barrera for the Austin American Statesman.

The Austin American Statesman posted a short video clip of Mark Clements, who was freed based on police misconduct after serving 28 years in prison. Mark attended the lobby day on behalf of Rodney Reed’s family. “Don’t reject these men and women [lobbying their representatives]. Give them their chance. Free Rodney Reed”. A photo gallery is available here.

At the day’s news conference, Terri Been tearfully pleaded for her brother, Jeff Wood, to be removed from death row. Wood was convicted under the state’s law of parties for a killing committed by his partner in a 1996 robbery in Kerrville. In 2008, Wood, who was found not mentally fit to stand trial, won a stay from a federal judge just hours before his scheduled execution. He remains on death row.

Rodney Reed’s supporters can email Rep. Dutton and thank him for his continued commitment to justice and ending the death penalty in Texas. Dutton has filed bills opposing the death penalty every legislative session since 2003. None has made it out of committee, but Dutton said he refuses to give up. “I think Texas ought not be in the death penalty business until we get the systems fixed … until we can guarantee that no one who is executed is innocent,” Dutton said. “We’ll keep pushing it”

(Many thanks to the Texas Moratorium Network for their continued work around Lobby Day)

Organized by the Texas Moratorium Network, the “Day of Innocence” brought together exonerated death row prisoners, Rep. Harold Dutton, and friends and family members of men and women on Texas death row. Photo by Scott Cobb.

Mark Clements, Sabrina Butler, and Ron Keine stand in the House Chamber inside the Texas Capitol.
Photo by Scott CobbSabrina Butler holds a copy of her life story after she spoke along with people with the Witness to Innocence in support of abolishing the death penalty at a Capitol press conference Tuesday, March 3, 2015. Photo by Ralph Barrera for the Austin American Statesman.

Amnesty International issues URGENT ACTION about Rodney Reed

10 Replies

Thanks to the efforts of the student chapter of Amnesty International at the University of Texas, Rodney Reed is the subject of an Amnesty International Urgent Action. We are thankful to Amnesty for recognizing the grave injustices in Rodney’s case and for sharing this information with its membership!

Their fact sheet is available as a pdf for easy sharing, and includes information for those who wish to write a clemency letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, asking them to stop Rodney’s execution. You can send an email asking for clemency through their website here. Thanks to Amnesty for helping us take Rodney’s case truly international!

Amnesty International is one of the world’s largest human rights organizations with offices in over 80 countries.

Breaking News: Forensic experts believe Stacey Stites died before midnight

2 Replies

Today, Rodney’s attorneys filed a motion to request a new trial based on the opinions of three forensic pathologists:

The filing comes on the heels of affidavits from forensic pathologists Dr. LeRoy Riddick (who has now written four opinions on Stites’s death since 2003), former Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York Dr. Michael Baden, and Dr. Werner Spitz, whose textbook Medicolegal Investigation of Death is recognized as “the bible of forensic pathology.” All three conclude four inconsistencies [with the state’s version of events].

Attorneys also filed two affidavits that confirm that Rodney and Stacey were involved in a consensual relationship before she was murdered. Read the whole story at the Austin Chronicle

A Conversation with Sandra and Rodrick Reed

1 Reply

Read below for a moving interview with Rodney’s mother and brother. Originally published at nodeathpenalty.org

Rodney Reed’s family has been at the forefront of a 17 year struggle to prove his innocence and win his freedom from Texas’ death row. Recently, Rodney’s mother Sandra, and brother Rodrick, sat down to talk with Lily Hughes from Campaign to End the Death Penalty about their disappointment in the courts, the need for DNA testing, and the pain of facing an execution date.

——————————————————————-

THERE’S A clemency process that’s already started, and we hope that you will have an opportunity to meet with the new governor, Greg Abbott, or perhaps members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, to talk to them about why they should grant clemency. What you would say to the governor if you did get a chance to meet with him face to face?

Sandra: What we’ve been saying all along! Rodney is an innocent man. He was wrongfully convicted. He didn’t get a fair trial, and they used Jim Crow tactics to convict him. It’s not that they use Jim Crow tactics with every trial, but they used it with him.

We just want the new DNA testing. We want the truth. That’s all we’re asking. The only evidence that was presented was his DNA, and it was old. And you have nothing else–I mean nothing to link him to this case. How is it that you have enough merit to take a life–over old DNA? He was dating her!

There was a box of evidence that Judge Towslee ordered sealed–locked away. We never knew what that was until recently. Now, at this last hearing, there were two boxes when there should have been one, and they both were unsealed. That, to me, spells corruption. All I’m asking for is fairness. Give my son a fair shake. He never had a fair shake in the beginning. That’s all we’re asking.

And from my point of view, no matter what, you still shouldn’t take a life. Thou shalt not kill. What happened to the Ten Commandments? That’s all I have to say.

Rodrick: I would say to him that we just want to be treated the way he would want his own treated. We want the same thing he would expect if he were in our shoes. Fairness. Equality. We’re not asking for anything special. We’re not asking for anything out of the ordinary. We’re just asking for what’s right.

Sandra: And if you have thousands of people out here who believe in him, what does that say? There is a shadow of a doubt…Twelve jurors were deceived. I still don’t know how they thought they had enough to do what they did, but I do believe they were deceived.

RECENTLY, AT a hearing here in Bastrop in front of the trial judge, he denied important DNA testing. And of course, there’s been a string of denials from the courts over the years, whether it’s the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals or the Fifth U.S. Circuit of Appeals and, more recently, the U.S. Supreme Court. How has that affected your view of the court system and the way the criminal justice system operates?

Sandra: I’ve told people over the years that I was very naïve as far as the justice system is concerned. I thought that if anything went wrong, all we had to do was take it to court, because that’s what the United States stands for: fairness without a shadow of a doubt.

But when it came down to my son’s case and the hearing and the way the trial went, it just went plumb Jim Crow.

There were witnesses waiting to testify, but never called. They made me a possible witness for the prosecution and never called me. The judge denied the alibi witness from testifying. And sitting there during that process, there was nothing I could do. I had no knowledge of the law itself, I didn’t have the funds, and I was denied the ability to testify for my son.

It felt like I was chained and bound. There was nothing I could do but stand there and watch them railroad my son. Over these last years–17 or 18 years of fighting–I have to say: Thank god for the Campaign to End the Death Penalty. Because you guys know what’s going on and what happened to me.

You wouldn’t have known what happened to Rodney if you hadn’t been concerned about right and wrong, and what did happen. And I am a proud member of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty.

Traveling over the years, and speaking and meeting exonerees from death row and other family members speaking out–that encouraged me to keep right on fighting for my son. This proved to me that the United States has defrauded all of us.

They painted this so-called justice system with rose colors and made us think that we would get a fair shake. And being Black, you have that mark against you. Looking back at Martin Luther King and how he fought for our rights, I thought, well, we have our rights now. But I realize we don’t. We never had equality.

AND THE courts have completely failed us.

Sandra: The courts have completely failed us. Right. Absolutely.

SO WOULD you say that winning justice from the system requires taking MLK’s route?

Sandra: It’s a hard row to hoe, especially when racism is still rampant. Things are better on the surface, but within, it’s still there, and it still hurts. It still affects people.

It’s undercover slavery. That’s what I feel. The government is building all of these prisons. Why? And most of the people are minorities. The justice they’re carrying out is legalized murder. Murder is murder.

Yet we’re willing to sacrifice our young men and boys to go over and fight for somebody else’s rights. And we don’t have our own backyard cleaned up? We’re killing our own. That’s what I got out of this–there’s no justice in this so-called justice system that we have.

Rodrick: There’s some justice, just us.

RODRICK, DID you have anything else you wanted to add about the courts?

Rodrick: Yes. I believe the courts are very, very misleading, because you think that justice will be blind and everyone should get a fair shake. But the reality is that if you don’t have the capital, you’re going to get the punishment. If you’re poor, you’re not going to get proper representation. If you’re mentally handicapped in any kind of way, you’re not going to get a fair shake, and that’s not right.

So the bottom line is that there’s a lot of work to be done in the justice system, and it’s not going to happen until we come together and use what we have to make it better. In cases like my brother’s case, once we bring him home–which I pray that’s the way it goes–then the fight keeps going. That racism, that injustice, that corruption is still there. And that’s the roots that we have to try to dig up.

Sandra and Rodrick in front of the Texas State Capitol

SWITCHING SUBJECTS, I think that both of you have been down to see Rodney fairly recently, and we were wondering if you could talk about how he’s handling everything?

Sandra: I haven’t seen him since the hearing, because there have been other people, such as his sons, who have been visiting. I wanted them to have as much visitation as they could, because over these 18 years, he hadn’t seen his sons. When he was convicted, his sons were six or seven–maybe not even that old. But they’re now grown, and they have their own kids, so they’ve been visiting.

His granddaughter lives in California, and her mother put her on the plane, and her father picked her up in Dallas–and wow, they just had a wonderful, beautiful visit. Each visit was four hours. Monday, they got two visits in the same week for four hours, and I think that was wonderful.

So I want those kids to visit as much as they can, and other people who are in his corner and hadn’t seen him. They needed to see him, and he needed to see them. He only gets a one visit a week, and so that makes it kind of tough. But he’s strong.

Rodrick: Yeah, he’s real strong. He’s real positive. You go down there with the expectation of trying to lift his spirits up, and…

Sandra: He lifts yours.

Rodrick: He lifts yours. And I think it’s all possible because of God, and all his supporters and friends and family who believe in him and support him. That keeps him strong, that keeps him positive, that keeps him going. If it had been me, I’d be crazy as a bug, but he’s strong.

Sandra: His support is strong, and his family, we’re right there with him. If he can just see our faces and see how strong we are, it keeps him strong.

Rodrick: We keep each other strong.

Sandra: He’s doing as well as can be expected. And of course, our faith is strong and I’m optimistic. Yet I have to face reality of how this justice system has treated my son over these 18 years, with the denial of everything. I’m hoping and praying. I can’t see how, with all of this information and evidence pointing to Rodney’s innocence, Greg Abbott would deny him clemency, but who’s to say?

THAT BRINGS me to my next question. How are you all doing? I know this is not an easy time, and it never is. What do you want to say about the death penalty, and the way it creates a whole new set of victims?

Rodrick: Myself, I’m tired.

Sandra: He’s tired. We’re all tired.

Rodrick: I’m tired, but I’m strong. I’m going to keep my strength, and I’m going to push on as far as I can and do all that I can do, and I’m going to let God do the rest. But I think that it’s very stressful. I’ve aged–I’ve got more gray hair and a face full of gray. It has an effect.

All in all, we’re good. And I know it will get better. We all have points where it’s like, how much more can we take? How many more denials? How many more years? How many more days?

Sandra: And on top of dealing with everyday life, I have six sons, and all of them have their issues. Their issues are mine, and I worry. Not as much as I used to when they was coming up. Now that they’re in their 40s and 50s—

Rodrick: Don’t tell them my age! (laughter)

Sandra: I’m telling mine accidently! But, you know, when it rains it pours. There’s going to be times where everything happens at one time. But we’re maintaining. It’s a struggle, but we’re maintaining. And me being the mother, words can’t even express what I’m feeling now at this phase. I could tell you but you wouldn’t really know.

Rodrick: The words can’t describe it.

Sandra: I can sit here and tell you right now how much I’m grateful to you guys, and the words aren’t enough.

Rodrick: They don’t even do it justice.

Sandra: Words can’t even express what I’m feeling. At this phase of the game, I’m strong. I’m optimistic. Knowing what this system has done to us, I can’t believe it until I see it now. I have to touch it now. So that’s the best I can do, but I’m praying to God that he gives me the strength to endure whatever.

Rodrick: Somebody told me yesterday, “I’m really proud of you for the work that you do for your brother. I think you’re doing a good thing. I’m so proud of you.” I looked at her and I said, “To be proud of me for doing something for someone that I love is not a big deal. What moves me is people who do something for someone they don’t even know–a stranger.”

That’s what gives me strength. When we have people like you who are not related, who didn’t even know Rodney, but you came in and you gave up your time and your money and everything you can give to help support us. Because it’s easy to do for someone that you love. Anybody does that. But to do something for a stranger who you don’t know even know–that says it all.

Sandra: But see, you’re God’s angels to me. I know we’ve discussed that before, but you are.

He assigned you, whether you believe in Him or not, to do this. It’s His work. Through you guys. Those petitions that we attempted to submit to the DA! Eleven thousand signatures!

AND NOW it’s over fourteen thousand.

Sandra: The signatures of people who we don’t know!

Rodrick: That’s what I’m saying. We have to be here. And if we’re any kind of good family and love our family, we have to do the things we have to do. But for all the hundreds and thousands of people trying to help us, that’s something to be proud of.

Sandra: Because if it was up to (only) our family, we would be screwed, glued and tattooed!

THAT BRINGS us to the last question: Is there anything that you want to say to people who already support Rodney? What can people be doing right now that helps the most?

Sandra: What helps the most is do what you’ve been doing. I thank each and every one, the thousands and possibly millions of people that have viewed that documentary State vs. Reed and took an interest. I thank them all.

Rodrick: I thank you all, and I’m proud of you, because that’s doing something–when you’re in a situation where you don’t have to be, but you chose to be in it. You chose to be in this fight. You can sit down on the sidelines and watch it go down, but you said no. I stand up and I’m going to represent.

Sandra: How long have we been in this together? Fifteen years.

Rodrick: That means the world to me.

Sandra: And I love all of you.

– See more at: http://nodeathpenalty.org/new_abolitionist/december-2014-issue-62/conversation-sandra-and-rodrick-reed#sthash.rayBnNhb.dpuf

Dean Smith: On the Passing of a Death Penalty Abolitionist

Leave a reply

Dave Zirin, sports editor at The Nation, is a supporter of Rodney and has signed on to our clemency campaign. His newest piece, a memorial to Tar Heels basketball coach Dean Smith and his legacy as a death penalty abolitionist, is a reminder of the intersection between sports and social justice:

“Dean Smith was clear in his opposition to the death penalty. He knew death did not solve death and that the sentencing was racially biased. He knew that like a fixed game the results were unfair. Right now in North Carolina, we have had over seven individuals, mostly black, in recent years exonerated from death row declared wrongfully charged and convicted who would have been executed. This is more than any other state in the country. Based on this reality we can surmise that through the death penalty and the faults of racial and class bias we have probably killed innocent black and poor white persons in our state. We should have and still need to listen to Coach Smith’s vocal opposition and abandon the death penalty.”

RIP Coach Smith. We’ll keep fighting.