International Wrongful Convictions Day
This
Tuesday, October 2nd is the Fifth Annual International Wrongful
Conviction Day. According to the organizers, this is a day set aside to
raise awareness of the causes and remedies of wrongful convictions and to
recognize the tremendous personal, social, and emotional costs of wrongful
conviction for innocent people and their families.
Help
raise awareness for this day on your social media accounts with the hashtag
#WrongfulConvictionDay and be sure to tag us @CCATDP! Here
us a good resource to share along with posts.
CCATDP National Manager Tapped as Newsmax Insider
The
leader of Conservatives
Concerned About the Death Penalty is now a Newsmax
Insider. Twice a month, Hannah Cox will be writing about the failures of the
criminal justice system and especially the death penalty.
Newsmax
is a leading conservative news outlet that receives nearly 70,000 unique daily
visitors. The company is ranked as the 3rd most trafficked political
website.
You
can follow her blog Life
and Liberty here and read her first article, “Do
You Support the Death Penalty,” here.
Execution Scheduled for October 11th in Tennessee
In
August, Tennessee carried out its first execution in nearly a decade and thus
far it is on track to carry out its second this month. Barring action from
Governor Haslam, the state will execute
Edmund Zagorski on October 11th.
Zagorski’s
case points out the randomness of Tennessee’s death penalty, an arbitrariness
that was dubbed the state’s “Cruel
Death Penalty Lottery” in a recent study. Zagorski was convicted of killing
two men in a drug deal gone bad 34 years ago. Now, the correctional officials
who guard him speak of a reformed and ideal inmate, one who makes them “feel
safe to work there” and who has helped break up prison fights. They have asked
for clemency on his behaf.
Multiple
jurors who ruled on Zagorski’s case, and who were not given the option of a life
without parole sentence, have also spoken out and said they would not have voted
to give him a death sentence had this option been available to them. Lastly, the
wife of one of the victims has also spoken out in favor of leniency and a life
without parole sentence.
CCATDP in Salt Lake City for SPNAM
CCATDP
is heading to Salt Lake City, Utah this month for the State
Policy Network's Annual Meeting. We’ll be in town October 9th through 12th,
so let us know if you’ll be at the conference or in the area, we’d love to say
hello!
