From Atlanta IMC:: "Remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated..." Read full Letter from Troy Davis

On October 14, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Troy Anthony Davis' appeal. He is now scheduled to be executed on October 27 at 7pm for the murder of Police Officer Mark MacPhail in Georgia. Amnesty International believes Davis to have a credible claim of innocence. They write: "7 out of 9 witnesses have recanted, no murder weapon was found and no physical evidence linked Davis to the crime." They are organizing a global day of action on Thursday, October 23rd to urge the Georgia Board of Pardon and Paroles to grant clemency. The day will include a large rally at the state capitol in Atlanta, GA. Supporters are requested to organize solidarity rallies or other public events to demand justice, and express sympathy with the families of Davis and Officer MacPhail. Read More: STAND FIRM FOR JUSTICE! Global Day of Action for Troy Davis | Write a letter to the editor | More info & flyers: www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis

UPDATE: Kenneth Foster Jr. sends message to Troy Davis

OUR US CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD CONTINUE TO DENY MIDDLE CLASS AND WORKING POOR AMERICANS PROPER LEGAL REPRESENTATION EVEN THOUGH WRONGFUL EXECUTIONS & FALSE INCARCERATIONS CONTINUE ALL ACROSS AMERICA ?????????????????

700 BILLION $$$ BAILOUT & NOT ENOUGH $$$ FOR POORER AMERICANS PROPER LEGAL REPRESENTATION ?? read more

Statement Read by Naji Mujahid at the 11th Annual Black L.U.V. Fest in Washington, DC 9-21-08: I would like everyone's attention. I have a very important announcement. What I am about to tell you is literally a matter of life and death! This is an emergency that requires all of our attention.

UPDATE: US Supreme Court issues temporary stay of execution for Troy Davis: U.S. Supreme Court will decide Monday whether to hear Troy's appeal from the March 2008 Georgia Supreme Court denying him a new trial. READ MORE

Troy Anthony Davis was convicted and sentenced to death in 1989 in the State of Georgia based exclusively on witness testimony. Evidence of his innocence emerged as most of these witnesses recanted their testimony, many alleging police coercion. He is scheduled to be executed TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 23rd at 7pm EST. Your help is needed to flood the Parole Board offices, the White House and the US Attorney's offices in Atlanta and DC. MORE: Innocent on Death Row and Prevent the Murder of Innocent from Atlanta Indymedia | 11th Hour Call to Action

From Atlanta Progressive News: Two anti-death penalty activists, Rev. Marvin Morgan, First Congregational Church, and Steve Woodhall, were arrested today at the Governor’s Office, after refusing to leave the office until speaking with the governor about tomorrow’s impending execution of Troy Davis. Read Full Report | From Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Protests planned against Davis’ execution | Sharpton seeks clemency for Troy Anthony Davis

Thursday, September 4, 2008 — Dear comrades: A Georgia state judge signed a new death warrant for the execution of Troy Anthony Davis on or after September 23, 2008, but by no later than September 30, 2008. In other words, this death warrant gives Troy Anthony Davis no more than 19 to 26 days to live.

As some of you may remember, Troy Davis came within twenty-four hours of being executed on Georgia's death row last year on July 17, 2007. At that time, after Troy Davis exhausted all of his appeals, and after the Georgia government signed the first death warrant against Troy Davis, a massive grassroots campaign to save Troy's life convinced the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Parole to stay Troy's scheduled execution while the board reviewed the case... Read More by Thomas Ruffin, Naji Mujahid, Ryme Katkhouda and dcradiocoop.org

I am writing to you today just days before the scheduled execution of death row inmate Gregory Wright. I have immense concerns about this man being executed. Gregory Wright's family paid for his DNA testing. The results were "inconsistent with the biological material found on the pair of jeans" that were worn by the victim. He also has proved his innocence again by willingly taking a polygraph test and passing it. Along with all the inconsistencies in his trial and case, if anyone really reads and understands his case, it shows strongly that he is an innocent man. That he did not kill anyone.

There has been no rallies for Greg. No videos. No marching down the streets. He sits quietly on death row, leaving his fate in the hands of the Lord, with his wife and friends. He is not a dangerous man, he is an innocent man. He has studied religion and law while incarcerated. So today I am asking you to review his case. And if you find that in your mind there is any doubt at all that this man did not commit this murder, please do the right thing. Please do whatever is necessary to stop the execution of Greg Wright. [read the full article]

FreeGregWright.com | DNA Tests Suggest Gregory Edward Wright, On Texas Death Row, Has Been Wrongfully Convicted Of Murder

from the open publishing newswire: I just called the governor's office to ask for them to stop the execution of Jeff Woods and they told me he got a stay! I'm looking through the news to try and find confirmation of this, after the Democracy Now! coverage this morning and grassroots networks trying to get people to call I am sure that they have been flooded with calls.

According to the Texas Moratorium Network The Execution is off! at least for today. Judge Orlando Garcia of San Antonio granted a stay of Wood's execution pending an evaluation of Jeff Wood's mental capacity. This stay is expected to last until the evaluation is complete , which many are reporting may be in early 2009.

Read Judge Orlando Garcia's Order for a stay an excerpt: "With all due respect, a system that requires an insane person to first make 'a substantial showing' of his own lack of mental capacity without the assistance of counsel or a mental health expert, in order to obtain such assistance is, by definition, an insane system"
Background on Jeff Woods | Austin March to Save Jeff Wood | SaveJeffWood.com | Jeff Wood's Family In Their Own Words

August 16 -- The Texas Moratorium Network, The Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, The Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, The Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Kids Against the Death Penalty, Capital X, and Free Radicals all marched on the Capital in Austin Saturday 8/16 in support of "Save Jeff Wood". Jeff Wood is scheduled to be executed Thursday 8/21 under the notorious Texas Law of Parties. If you oppose this execution, you can sign the petition, and go to Hunstville Thursday 8/21 at the corner of 12th Street and Avenue I (in front of the Walls Unit) at 5:00 p.m. for a protest. See more photos.

UPDATE: Jeff Woods execution stayed - appeal in process

This week, despite George Bush himself siding with the anti-death penalty activists and the International Court of Justice, Texas violated international law twice to execute non-citizens convicted of murder. José Medellin of Mexico was executed Tuesday 8/06/08, and Heliberto Chi, of Honduras, was executed Thursday 8/07/08. They were the 410 and 411th people executed since the resumption of the death penalty in 1982. Reports from Hunstville: Medellin, Chi.

BALTIMORE — The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland today [7/17] made public what it called "shocking" documents obtained through a Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) lawsuit, revealing that the Maryland State Police (MSP) engaged in covert surveillance of local peace and anti-death penalty groups for over a year from 2005-2006. The organization expressed alarm at the incomprehensible spying revealed in 43 pages of summaries and computer logs, none of which refer to criminal or even potentially criminal acts, other than a few isolated references to plans for completely nonviolent civil disobedience.

ACLU of Maryland Executive Director Susan Goering blasted the program as "Un-American," and said, "I fear that the documents released today, which the MSP wrongfully withheld for almost two years, may be only the tip of the proverbial iceberg."

Read the ACLU press release | WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED: Maryland Anti-Death Penalty Activists Speak Out!7/24 @ 2640 | UPDATE: AUDIO FROM THE SPEAK-OUT | WATCH THE VIDEO | Read the documents obtained through the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) lawsuit | Coverage on Democracy Now! | Dave Zirin: COINTELPRO Comes to My Town: My First-Hand Experience With Government Spies | Coverage in the Progressive | Maria Allwine: State police spying is dangerous repression | UPDATE: Dear Maryland Activists (from ACLU of MD)

Derrick Sonnier is scheduled to be executed in Texas on Wednesday, July 23. His execution was stayed earlier this summer just minutes before he was set to be executed. The state quickly gave him a new execution date. His appeals have been dismissed and he is scheduled to die this Wednesday. Sonnier was sentenced to death in 1993 for the murder of his neighbor and her son in 1991. The jurors who sentenced him to death heard no mitigating evidence, despite the availability of such evidence. Local and national abolition groups are urging activists to call on Rissie Owens of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Perry to grant clemency to Derrick Sonnier and commute his death sentence:

Act Now to Stop the Execution!
Call the Citizen’s Opinion Hotline: (800) 252-9600 [for Texas callers]
Citizen’s Assistance and Opinion Hotline: (512) 463-1782 [for Austin and out-of-state callers]
Office of the Governor Main Switchboard: (512) 463-2000
Fax a letter to the Board of Pardons and Paroles at (512) 467-0945
Send an email message to Rissie Owens and Governor Perry

Past Coverage: Sonnier Gets Stay of Execution | More on Executions: The Innocent Children of Death Row Inmates | Texas Law of Parites | Charles Dean Hood Sends out Plea for Help

Paige Lynn Wood holds a sign for the crowd to read, "If You Kill My Dad, Jeff Wood, Your Killing Me." Her dad Jeff Wood is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas on August 2008. Paige was only about 3 years old when her dad was convicted for murder under the "Law of Parties" Statue in Texas for the murder of a store attendant. She is now 14.

Her plea for help can be read on a website constructed by Wood's family... Wood was convicted and sentenced to die under the "Law of Parties Statue" in Texas, where you are held responsible for someone else's actions of murder, despite the fact you never touched the gun, never pulled the trigger, or never knew the intentions of your codefendant. Wood's codefendant, Daniel Earl Reneau was executed on June 13, 2003.

Last year, Nydesha Foster, then 11 years old, daughter of former death row inmate Kenneth Foster also pleaded for the life of her father who was scheduled to be executed in Texas on August 30, 2007, and also under the same "Law of Parties" statue in Texas. Foster was convicted of murder and sentence to die by lethal injection for a murder that took place while he was seated in the car, quite a distance from the crime. Foster's family and supporters generated thousands of calls to the Governor and Texas Parole and Pardons resulting in a commutation of sentence for Foster. Foster is now serving time in a Texas prison. Wood's case has many similarities to that of Foster's. You can listen to Nydesha's pleas to save her father from execution here.

RELATED: Texas to Execute Derrick Sonnier

Jeff Wood was convicted and put on death row, despite not committing murder, under the Law of Parties. Texas is the only state in the nation with such a broad "Law of Parties", allowing the government to execute people who have not committed murder, with around 80 people on Texas Death Row (according to the Austin American Statesman).

"My cousin was the person killed by Danny, not Jeff. I say this as a family member who realized long ago Jeff had no part in my cousin's murder and he shouldn't be executed. It's insane to kill another person who did not kill Kris. The video showed Jeff took no part in it. Jeff was one of my friends growing up and someone I think deserves a chance. If he didn't kill him, why should we kill Jeff? This is ridiculous." - Amanda Smith, Cousin of Murder Victim Kris Keeran - June 19, 2008

Please contact Governor Perry and the Texas Board of Pardon and Paroles on behalf of Jeff Wood. Read More | Sign Petition/strong> | Interview with Kristin Wood, Wife of Death Row inmate Jeff Wood | Kenneth Foster speaks about the Law of Parties | Kenneth Foster Jr's execution was stayed: Kenneth Foster Jr's Death Sentence Commuted! | Joseph Nichols, convicted under law of parties was executed: Joseph Nichols second man executed for same crime

Texas has issued a death warrent to a man who they know never killed anyone. Jeff Woods will be executed by the state of Texas on August 21, 2008. Another man, Wood's co-defendant Daniel Earl Reneau was executed in 2002 for the crime.

In an attempt to save her brothers life, Wood's sister Terri Bean has created a website including facts and information about the case. Other members of his family including his father, wife, sterpmother, daughter, brothers and nephews have have all spoken out about Wood's innocence. Friends of jeff have written on his behalf also.

The website explains about other outstanding facts in this case including his rights being infringed, and his mental capacities. More information can be read here. http://www.freewebs.com/savejeffwood/index.htm A petition is circulating the Internet to be presented to Texas officials on his behalf, and members of his family urge everyone to sign it. The petition can be found on the website also. It currently has over 500 signatures. Fulll Story

12:07 Update AP reports the execution is off for tonight.

I just spoke with Gloria Rubac of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, who is with about 15 other people at the Walls Unit in Huntsville to protest the planned execution of Charles Hood. There have been a lot of last minute legal developments that make it seem as though the execution may be postponed or cancelled. The 15 people there plan to stay and protest until midnight, when, to our understanding, the “justice” system has to either execute Hood, or wait until tomorrow.

Around an hour before the execution, the State District Judge withdrew Hood’s death warrant, and recused himself from further deliberation in this case. This was a delight to the Texas Defenders Service, which has been writing appeals on behalf of Hood, and the Death Penalty Abolitionists gathered in Huntsville. But the District Attorneys of Collin County have been filling numerous appeals to the Criminal Court of Appeals (CCA)...[Read Full story]

From the Newswire: ... The article I was originally going to write, I decided not to when I read about Karl's execution. Karl was very remorseful. He was extremely remorseful in the letters he sent to me, and was very remorseful on that gurney. According to Associated Press and KWES news Karl's last statement was, "I want you all to know I love you with all my heart. I want to thank you for being here," he said. "We are here to honor the life of Felicia Prechtl, a woman I didn't even know, and celebrate my death. I am so terribly sorry. I wish I could die more than once." [Read the Full Article]

Texas executed Karl Chamberlain tonight, June 11 making him the first prisoner to be executed in over nine months and the 406th person killed by the state of Texas since the death penalty was reinstated in 1982. The state has eleven more executions scheduled almost on a weekly basis.

Derrick Sonnier is scheduled to be executed in Texas on June 3. He was sentenced to death in 1993 for the murder of his neighbor and her son in 1991. The jurors who sentenced him to death heard no mitigating evidence, despite the availability of such evidence. Local and national abolition groups are urging activists to call on Rissie Owens of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Perry to grant clemency to Derrick Sonnier and commute his death sentence.

Act Now to Stop the Execution!
Call the Citizen’s Opinion Hotline: (800) 252-9600 [for Texas callers]
Citizen’s Assistance and Opinion Hotline: (512) 463-1782 [for Austin and out-of-state callers]
Office of the Governor Main Switchboard: (512) 463-2000
Fax a letter to the Board of Pardons and Paroles at (512) 467-0945
Send an email message to Rissie Owens and Governor Perry

Protest On June 3: Join the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement on June 3 to protest the execution. There will be protests both in Houston at Mecom Fountain at 5pm and in Huntsville at the Walls Unit at 5:30pm. Contact abolition.movement@hotmail.com or 713-503-2633 for more info.

Related Stories: Capital X Walk for Life Tour in Houston May 30 | Death Row Inmates React to Latest Supreme Court Ruling

International Human Rights Activist to "Walk 4 Life" to Abolish the Death Penalty From Trenton New Jersey to Texas Andre Latallade, also known as Capital-"X" will walk from Trenton New Jersey, approximately 1,700 miles to the Governors mansion in Texas in an attempt to bring awareness to the death penalty. The death penalty has recently been abolished in New Jersey, and Texas is known as "the busiest killing state." He is trying to "build a bridge between the two groups of victims, the executed, and their families and the victims and families of violent crimes."

Andre says "separated we call for life or death, I say we unite and call for solutions." He asks that life without parole be called for as opposed to the death sentence.

The march began on March 31, 2008, during a defacto moratorium on executions while the US Supreme Court looked at a court case from Kentucky that challenged executions as cruel and unusual punishment, as a violation of the 8th amendment. On April 16th the court rejected the challenge, and new execution dates have been set; in Texas the first execution date is scheduled for June 3rd when local protests are planned.

By Friday May 9th, Capital X's march had made it to Little Rock Arkansas, where he spoke with Houston Indymedia Radio. Listen to the interview here | Capital X video blog on onloq.com | Capital X Walk for Life Blog | Capital X on Myspace | Journey of Hope Blog with coverage of March for Life

At the Death House Door is a personal and intimate look at the death penalty in the state of Texas through the eyes of Pastor Carroll Pickett, who served 15 years as the death house chaplain to the infamous "Walls" prison unit in Huntsville. During Pickett's remarkable career journey, he presided over 95 executions, including the world’s first lethal injection. After each execution, Pickett recorded an audiotape account of his trip to the death chamber.

The Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement hosted a card signing event at the SHAPE community center on December 4th to send seasons greetings and solidarity to people incarcerated on Texas Death Row.

I got there too late to see Cythia McKinney, the Green Party Nominee for President, who stopped by before her speaking event at TSU. The amount of cards going from table to table being signed with names, well wishes and occasionally drawings was immense, a stack of 400 christmas cards is a somewhat surreal way to look at the immense number of human beings being warehoused and soon by slaughtered by the state of Texas..

They are planning to hold another signing party this Tuesday (December 11th) starting at 6pm, come on by, it was a great way to gather with other folks trying to spread cheer and human dignity to those whose lives are at the mercy of the state of Texas. [full story with photos]