On April 8, 2002, Ray Krone walked out of the Arizona State Prison in Yuma after spending 10 years behind bars, nearly three of them on death row, for a crime he did not commit. Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said at a press conference on the day of Krone’s release that an injustice was…
Read MoreMay 9, 2002. The state of Maryland is set to execute Wesley Baker in less than a week. Thousands of calls have been pouring in to the Governor from around the country calling for him to halt executions. Whatever the Governor’s decision, we know it will have to come sometime in the next two days….
Read Moredeveloped and mailed an action alert to 25,000 Marylanders. published an ad in a Sunday edition of The Sun in Baltimore with a readership of nearly a half million people; over 400 Marylanders signed the ad’s call for a moratorium, including three U.S. Congressional Representatives, the current and former Mayors of Baltimore, two county executives,…
Read MoreMoratorium bills passed the Nevada Senate and the Maryland House of Delegates. A moratorium amendment lost by only 3 votes in the Connecticut House, while Texas bills passed committees in both legislative houses. Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Missouri, and North Carolina enacted legislation banning the execution of the mentally retarded. 17 states improved access to post-conviction…
Read MoreIn March, we deepened our long-term commitment to state capacity building by establishing our first Field Office and hiring Celeste Fitzgerald to run it. She is a talented organizer who emerged from the moratorium movement in New Jersey. Celeste provides technical assistance in organizing, strategic planning, message development, lobbying, and organizational capacity building to a…
Read MoreThe near victory in Maryland demonstrated a new political strength for the moratorium movement. Grassroots support, which in Maryland included moratorium resolutions adopted by local governments representing the state’s three most populous jurisdictions, can indeed be translated into political change! Our Maryland campaign provided us intensive on-the-ground training which has enriched our organizing staff’s capacity…
Read MoreSince Equal Justice USA launched MORATORIUM NOW! in 1997, we’ve played a unique national role by forging strong ties to state organizations. States are the frontline of our movement. They are where the vast majority of prisoners are sentenced to death and executed and where grassroots pressure for a moratorium can have the most impact….
Read MoreNationwide, 63 local governments and nearly 2,000 national, state, and local organizations and faith communities have adopted resolutions urging a moratorium. Equal Justice USA maintains this national listing on its National Tally. Momentum continued after September 11 with the Lincoln, Nebraska City Council; West Hollywood and Santa Clara County, California; and Cincinnati, Ohio all adopting…
Read MoreIn many ways, 2001 was a laboratory year in which state-based moratorium strategies were tested and strengthened. 2002 offers new openings to advance the national movement. We embark on a multi-year organizing offensive, State by State: from the grassroots to the statehouse. The aim is to improve and expand our national efforts to strategically sharpen,…
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Plagued with campaign trail questions about the moratorium in Illinois, and the likelihood that the innocent will be executed, Governor George Bush keeps insisting on the guilt of everyone he has executed. No wonder. Already this year, Texas has sent 13 people to its execution chamber, including 62-year old domestic violence victim Bettie Lou Beets….
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