N.Y Man Jailed 10 Years for Murder He Did Not Commit Freed By DNA Evidence…Today!
We have GOOD NEWS!!!! Douglas Arthur Warney, a prominent community activist suffering from advanced AIDS, tasted freedom for the first time today since 1996, when he was found guilty of homicide.
"I'm glad to be home with my family…All I can say is God is good" he commented after leaving the courtroom in Rochester today. The Innocence Project's Peter Neufeld helped him get the DNA testing to prove his innocence.
Originally charged with capital murder (which would have carried a death sentence), Douglas has a borderline IQ and is subject to delusions. His conviction was based upon an untaped confession with an investigator now thought to have used coercive tactics to get Douglas falsely confess to a crime he did not commit.
Douglas Warney's case is so important for those of us working towards an end to the death penalty in New York: it only proves that the New York criminal justice system is not immune to the types of errors that have led to wrongful convictions in other states, and that we must continue to work for its abolition.
Life without parole is a sentence that acknowledges that "mistakes," errors, and manipulations take place in the criminal justice system.
The Death Penalty does not.
!!!! HELP MAKE NEWS ABOUT THIS CASE!!!
SEND YOUR ASSEMBLYPERSON/ SENATOR A COPY OF DOUG'S STORY:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/nyregion/16dna.html
TELL THEM NEW YORKERS DO NOT WANT THE DEATH PENALTY
To identify and find out how to reach your Assembly member and State Senator, visit:
http://www.lwvny.org/ , click on Citizen Action Toolkit and scroll down to My Elected Officials
Colleen Eren
Long Island Organizer/ NYADP
1 Plaza Street West, Brooklyn, NY 11217
cell: 5168492363 www.nyadp.org
Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, New York State Politics, social & economic justice, To Study Up On Nonviolence Tagged: | book of the month, Uncategorized
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