A personal face on the death penalty’s deadly mistakes
Pennsylvania is home to three exonerated former death row inmates with a powerful message to share. Thanks to Pennsylvania Abolitionists United Against the Death Penalty (PA Abolitionists), the message of those wrongly convicted was heard loud and clear across the state this fall. The “Voices of Innocence” tour featured Ray Krone, a Pennsylvania native who became the nation’s 100th exonerated death row inmate after spending years on Arizona’s death row, and William Nieves, on Pennsylvania’s death row for six years before being granted a new trial. In Nieves’ case, prosecutors withheld the identity of an eyewitness who could have proven him innocent. (William “Hank” Kimball, Jr., freed from Pennsylvania’s death row earlier this year, was also scheduled to speak but missed the tour due to health problems.)
Speaking to thousands of Pennsylvanians at 50 different stops during the 2-week tour, Ray and William shared their personal accounts of living through the nightmare of being wrongfully convicted and sentenced to die. Newspaper and television coverage exceeded all expectations when Ray and William mounted the stage during the Pennsylvania gubernatorial debates on the invitation of Green Party candidate Michael Morrill, a PA Abolitionists member. Standing directly behind the two major party candidates, both of whom support the death penalty, William and Ray held “Voices of Innocence” tour t-shirts while Mike Morrill told the audience why he opposes the death penalty.
The tour closed just weeks before election day, when Democratic candidate Ed Rendell won the Governor’s seat for 2003. When Rendell, a former Philadelphia District Attorney and Philadelphia Mayor, takes office in 2003, he won’t be able to ignore Pennsylvania’s voices of innocence, the human face of the state’s broken system.
