Don´t kill Kevin Cooper. by Mumia Abu-Jamal. Welcome to the American Way of Death!

05.Feb.04    Análisis y Noticias

Gov. S., don´t kill Kevin Cooper!
California killing: the case of Kevin Cooper

by Mumia Abu-Jamal

A man named Kevin Cooper has been given a date to
die: On Feb. 10, 2004,
the state of California plans to kill him, by
pumping him full of poison.

Cooper, convicted back in 1984 of the slaying of
three members of the Ryen
clan and a visiting family friend, was also
charged with stabbing an
8-year-old boy, but luckily the child survived.

Why lucky? Well, apart from the obvious reason,
his sheer survival, Joshua
Ryen saw who attacked him, and upon recovery told
police that it was three
white or Latino men who slew his family, his
friend, and tried to kill
him.

When young Josh saw TV news accounts of the
attacks, he turned to a cop
who was present and exclaimed, when the picture
of Kevin Cooper flashed
across the screen, ?That wasn?t the guy who did
it. It was three
Mexicans.?

… out of the mouths of babes, eh?

But, San Bernardino officials didn?t care. What
does it matter that the
lone surviving victim cleared their suspect? It
meant nothing. They had
their man - and on the 10th of February, they
wanna kill him. Kevin
Cooper, now a man of 45 years, has spent the last
19 years of his life on
California?s Death Row, for a series of brutal
crimes - that he did not
commit.

Cooper turned his cell into a schoolroom,
studying writing, politics and
African-American history. He has grown into a
vibrant, talented and
educated individual - yet California still wants
to extinguish his light.

It is important to note that he is an
African-American man. That wasn?t
lost during his Dec. 1984 trial, around which
time demonstrators, calling
for his death, hung a toy gorilla in effigy.
Indeed, the media coverage
was so hyped, the demonstrations so hostile, that
the trial was moved to
San Diego.

Not only was the only living eyewitness ignored,
but, shortly after the
murders, a local woman came forward to tell
police that she thought her
boyfriend was involved in the grisly killings.
Why? When he came home the
night of the slayings, she said, he was wearing a
pair of overalls
drenched in blood. The woman turned them over to
the cops. Before the day
was over, the overalls were pitched into the
station?s dumpster.

Did it matter that the man was wearing a t-shirt
the color and brand of
the t-shirt found in the scene - it also, bloody?
No. Did it matter that
he owned a hatchet, like a weapon used in the
Ryen home, and it was
conveniently missing from the couple?s home. No.
None of it mattered.

They wanted, and focused on, Kevin Cooper.
Nothing else mattered.

Police and prosecutors told jurors that a bloody
shoe-print found at the
scene conclusively proved Cooper?s guilt. Were
the jurors told that Deputy
William Baird had a pair of prison shoes in his
crime lab, which were
Cooper?s size? What they also didn?t know was
that the deputy, post-trial,
was fired for stealing 5 pounds of heroin from
the evidence locker - 5
pounds - both to use and to sell - to drug
dealers!

Kevin Cooper is on Death Row, awaiting a date
with death, based on
?investigators? such as these!

Incredible!

Welcome to the American Way of Death!

Help save ? no, help FREE Kevin Cooper!

© Copyright 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal. Check out
Mumia´s new book, “Faith of
Our Fathers: An Examination of the Spiritual Life
of African and
African-American People”

————

What you can do:
-Call Gov. Schwarzenegger at 916-445-2841 or
e-mail governor@governor.ca.gov