Now there is an easy no-fees way to donate to our efforts to get a lawyer for Keith LaMar, please give and share. https://www.generosity.com/fundraisers/justice-for-keith-lamar
The State of Ohio is trying to kill our friend.
Keith LaMar is
unjustly on death row and he is running out of time. His
court-appointed lawyers failed to represent him adequately, and he
recently lost his last federal circuit court appeal. If we do not
replace them with lawyers who will really fight for him before January,
the State of Ohio will give him an execution date, and then kill him.
This
fund-raiser will generate enough money to pay the retainer on a lawyer
and get them started. If we do not find a lawyer, or reach the goal, all
money pledged will be returned to the donors.
Keith was locked
up at SOCF in Lucasville Ohio when a prison uprising broke out in April
of 1993. He surrendered the first night, but refused to cooperate with
investigators who were desperate to scapegoat people for the things that
happened during the uprising at their prison. As a result, they chose
him to be their scapegoat and recruited snitches to lie on him. They hid
evidence from his lawyers at trial. As a result, it was not hard to
secure a conviction from the all-white jury in rural southern Ohio. The
corruption, laziness and systematic racism of the US criminal justice
system has failed to overturn this verdict. The federal circuit court
upheld the conviction on Oct 21st, even while criticizing the actions of
the prosecutors and judge at trial.
The appellate attorneys who
were appointed by the court to represent Keith and and prevent Ohio from
executing an innocent man failed to file motions requesting access to
all of the evidence the state withheld back in 1993. Other
death-sentenced uprising prisoners did request and gain access to what
was withheld. Their cases are on hold while the lawyers examine this
mountain of evidence.
Keith asked his lawyers to do the same, and
they promised him they would. Then, inexplicably, they changed their
mind and refused to follow their client's wishes. Keith has not spoken
with these lawyers for over a year. They attempted to withdraw from his
case on his request before the final appeals, but the Circuit Court
denied the request, then decided against him.
This fundraiser has
been set up by Keith's friends and loved ones. Keith has touched our
lives. He has been a powerful inspiration and a source of strength to us
and many who seek justice in this world. The State of Ohio has held him
in solitary confinement for over two decades, denying him access to
basic human needs and attempting to crush his spirit. Despite these
brutal efforts, Keith has remained alive and fighting.
The
State of Ohio wants to kill our friend and in doing so they will assert
that his life, and the lives of so many Black people they hold captive
in their prisons, is disposable. We refuse that assertion. We insist
that Keith's life matters, and he will be defended.
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