The Court of Inquiry hearing on Todd Willingham's innocence starts at 1:30 PM on Thursday, October 14. It is open to the public. You can also join us outside the entrance to the Travis County Courthouse at noon on Thursday with signs supporting Todd Willingham's innocence. The address is 509 West 11th Street (Map). We will be outside from noon to 1 PM, then we will go inside for the hearing.
Here is a photo of some of us outside the hearing last week.
We need your help to organize the march. If you would like to make a donation to help with the
march, you can click here to donate by credit card or you can send a check to "Texas Moratorium Network", 3616 Far West Blvd, Suite 117, Box 251, Austin, Texas 78731. We would like to raise a few hundred dollars in order to help put on the best march ever. Thank you to everyone who has already donated!
Contact us by replying to this email or by phone
at 512-961-6389, if you would like to volunteer or if your organization would like to be listed as a co-sponsor. You can also leave a comment on this page of the march website saying that you endorse the march.
Special guests this year include exonerated former death row prisoners Shujaa Graham, Ron Keine, Curtis McCarty and Greg Wilhoit. Curtis spent 21 years in prison – including 19 years
on death row – in Oklahoma for a crime he did not commit. Shujaa spent 3 years on death row in California for a crime he did not commit. Ron spent two years on death row in New Mexico for a crime he did not commit. Greg spent five years on death row in Oklahoma for a crime he did not commit.
Who else is coming to the march?
Bud Welch, whose daughter was murdered in the Oklahoma City bombing.
David Kaczynski, who is executive director of New Yorkers For Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NYADP) and the brother of Theodore Kaczynski - the so-called Unabomber - who was arrested in 1996 after David and his wife Linda approached the FBI with their suspicions that Theodore might be involved in a series of bombings that caused three deaths and numerous injuries over 17 years.
After leading a successful statewide campaign to end New York’s flawed and ineffective capital punishment system, David has focused his organization’s work on promoting community initiatives that address the root causes of violence and
that provide meaningful assistance to those directly affected.
Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner, wife of Hank Skinner whose case is being heard by U.S. Supreme Court on October 13. Plus other interesting speakers.
“This is fast becoming one of the biggest anti-death penalty events in the country. I’ll be there“, said death row exoneree Ron Keine.
Each October since 2000, people from all walks of life and all parts of Texas, the U.S. and other countries have taken a day out of their year and gathered in Austin to raise their voices together and loudly express their opposition to the death penalty. The march is a coming together of activists, family members of people on death row, community leaders, exonerated prisoners and all those calling for abolition.
Last year’s march was the largest anti-death penalty rally in Texas since the first ever march in 2000. We will be joined this year by the Journey of Hope, which is an organization led by murder victim family members joined by death row family members,
family members of the executed, the exonerated, and others with stories to tell, that conducts public education speaking tours and addresses alternatives to the death penalty.
The annual march is organized by several Texas anti-death penalty organizations, including the Austin chapter of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Texas Moratorium Network, the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, Texas Death Penalty Education and Resource Center, Death Penalty Free Austin, and Kids Against the Death Penalty.
