Post what you are doing in your area to help Jimmy

[CCADP]

Here's where we can all share our ideas of postering schools, speaking on college radio, passing pamphlets out at events, public speaking on behalf of Jimmy

[CCADP]

An Associated Press article ran in papers across PA and AZ and Canada yesterday that included this sidebar :

Key sites in the world of inmates on the Internet
4/15/2005, The Associated Press

(AP) — Thousands of U.S. prison inmates have Web sites, but here are a handful of sites at the epicenter of the issue of inmates on the Net.

• www.ccadp.org is the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty. This Toronto-based nonprofit maintains Web pages and pen pal sites for more than 1,000 death row inmates.

• www.jimmydennis.com is a site run by the Canadian group on behalf of Pennsylvania death row inmate James Dennis. Dennis faces an evidentiary hearing next month as part of ongoing efforts to overturn his conviction for murdering a 17-year-old Philadelphia girl for her jewelry in 1991.

• www.middlegroundprisonreform.org is a Tempe, Ariz. nonprofit that has supported inmate Internet access and other rights. It was founded in 1983 by a now-retired judge, Donna Leone Hamm, two years after she met her eventual husband, James Hamm, during a tour of a prison where he was serving a murder sentence. James Hamm has since had his sentence commuted and works with Middle Ground Prison Reform Inc.

• www.inmate.com/inmates.htm is a database of inmates from several U.S. prisons who seek pen pals, and other prison links.

• www.f2ff.com, or Faith to Faith Friends, features religious-themed prisoner pen pal ads.

AP Story ran in:
PennLive.com
NEPA NEWS
Philadelphia Inquirier
Wilkes Barre Times Leader
Centre Daily

[tonya]

Hi -
I'm Tonya Sneed. Here's a letter to the editor that was published last week in my local paper. I was responding to an editorial regarding a bill in Illinois which would require jurors to not have any doubt about a defendant's guilt before sentencing him/her to death. Notice that I signed it "Justice for Jimmy Dennis Campaign".


While I support any and all reforms to the death penalty as it will ultimately result in fewer executions, I find it disheartening that the Journal Star editors (April 12) actually believe we can produce a full-proof system.

Consider these cases of death row exonerees: Five witnesses testified that they had seen Kirk Bloodsworth with the young girl he was convicted of murdering. A dental expert testified that Ray Krone’s bite matched the bite marks found on the victim’s body. The prosecutor in William Nieves’ case withheld exculpatory evidence from the jury. David Keaton confessed. Do the editors honestly think if the standard in these cases had been raised to beyond "all doubt" rather than beyond "reasonable doubt" that the outcome of these trials would have been any different?

Not even DNA evidence is sufficient because, first of all, most murderers don’t leave behind any DNA to test. Secondly, such evidence depends on competent, honest scientists interpreting the results. Recently there have been egregious examples of negligence in state labs. It has been established that chemists in states such as West Virginia, Texas and Oklahoma have misread DNA evidence and given false testimonies in numerous trials, which in turn has led to the wrongful conviction of defendants.

Like most of the rest of the industrialized world, the Journal Star editors should be condemning this archaic and barbaric practice of killing our citizens. They shouldn’t be suggesting that the death penalty can be fixed. The 119 men who’ve been exonerated from death row in recent years know better than that.

Tonya Sneed
Justice for Jimmy Dennis Campaign

[tonya]

Here's the most recent (March 2005) update:

Hi, everyone,

EVIDENTIARY HEARING
I am sending this email to remind everyone about the upcoming evidentiary hearing May 4 through 6 (Wednesday through Friday) in Philadelphia. This is a critical hearing in Jimmy's case and could potentially result in a new trial.

If you are available to attend, please contact Jeff Boghosian. You can find his email address toward the top of the "Contact Us" page of the WWW.JIMMYDENNIS.ORG website.

NEW STUFF ON THE DOT COM AND DOT ORG SITEs
If you visit the WWW.JIMMYDENNIS.COM or the WWW.JIMMYDENNIS.ORG site, you will see some changes. Tracy and I have added pictures, moved some text around, etc. The dot org site now has a page titled "Supporters" with many new features, including poems, photos of Jimmy's family, and photos of some of Jimmy's supporters. Now you can put some faces with names: Petra maintains the WWW.JIMMYDENNIS.DE site, Dave and Tracy maintain the WWW.JIMMYDENNIS.COM site and started the Justice for Jimmy campaign, and Sarah is a member of Petra's ALIVE organization. Like Petra, Sarah has traveled all the way from Germany to visit Jimmy in person.

SUSAN SARANDON
Please note on the supporter page that we are thrilled to now have the attention and support of a well-known actress, Susan Sarandon, thanks to the efforts of Jimmy's supporter Pam Deghand, who does amazing work.

CCADP & JUAN MELENDEZ
Congratulations to Dave and Tracy of CCADP (Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty) who recently hosted Juan Melendez (#99 death row exoneree) in Toronto. The Toronto Star ran an article with an accompanying large color photo of Juan and them. If anyone is interested in reading the article, please email Tracy or me, and we'll gladly forward it to you. Again, our email addresses can be located on the "Contact Us" page of the WWW.JIMMYDENNIS.ORG site.

"THE INNOCENT" FILM IN CHICAGO
This Sunday, April 3, the World Premiere screening of the film "The Innocent" will take place at the Chopin Theater at 1543 W. Division Avenue in Chicago. It is a documentary film (put on by the Chicago International Documentary Film Festival) about "men and women who have been wrongly sentenced to death and who lived to tell about it". Tickets are $10.50 each. For those of you who may live in the area, you can obtain tickets by calling 773-486-9612. Jim and I plan to attend and pass out flyers about Jimmy both before and after the screening.

Please note that there have now been 119 people released from death row in the U.S. since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970s.

POETRY BOOKLETS, T-SHIRTS, BUMPER STICKERS, BUTTONS
If anyone is interested in a poetry booklet, a t-shirt or a bumper sticker, please don't hesitate to let me know. I finally acquired some fairly-traded t-shirts out of Nicaragua (t-shirts made by a sewing cooperative, not in a sweatshop!). T-shirts are sold at cost. Bumper stickers are free. Buttons are also free. If you need a button, please contact Petra who makes them for us. Again, check out the "Contact Us" page of the dot org site to locate her email address.

Tonya

[sarah]

Hey guys! This might not fit to the topic but I was just wondering if any of you knows an answer to this?
Whats the biggest size of envelope I am allowed to send to SCI?I was gonna send something in an envelope as big as a regular piece of paper(Din A 4) but it doesnt fit so can I use an even bigger one??

thanks,
Sarah

[tonya]

Sarah - The largest envelope I've sent is 9 by 12 inches long, or maybe about 22.5 centimeters by 30 centimeters.

As for what I've been doing lately, I went to a Media Reform Conference last weekend (May 14-15). I got flyers about Jimmy into the hands of 3 representatives, including Rep. Diane Watson (she's from California) and Rep. Bernie Sanders (he's independent, from Vermont, going to run for senator). I also gave a flyer to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!

Oh, and a D.J. who does a radio show at the University of Connecticut wants to call me and do an interview about Jimmy's case sometime. He was super nice (he approached me because I was wearing a Jimmy Dennis t-shirt) and he seemed like the type to follow through.
tonya

[sarah]

Hey Tonya- well the envelope I used now is a little bit bigger than the one you sent out...(just a little bit though) I hope that`s gonna be okay..

To get back to the topic, well I have tried a few things to support Jimmy over here(Germany) but yeah succsess could have been better. I tried to get a concert going for him but didn`t work out. I found a few bands who wanted to play and I asked at the school I used to go to if we could use the location there. I found a teacher supporting me and also student council. I talked to the headmaster but he said no we can`t do that(he gave me some bogus excuses...). Also, I did a paper on Jimmy and his case and later presented his case to my class.

Other than that I have been passing out flyers I think that`s always important. When a movie on death penalty came out here(I think it was "life of Daved Gale" or something) me and some friends went to the movie theater passing out flyers. the people from the movie theater though kicked us out, haha. So we just continued passing them out outside of the movie theatre but then the security guys came up and said we have to leave..so yeah we just continued passing them out around the corner where they couldn`t see us We also put flyers on cars.

Other than that my school newspaper did a story on the death penalty and Jimmy in specific. So that was good.

I also did an interview at a radio station when they heard I had been to the US to visit Jimmy and another inmate.

Oh and also you can buy Jimmy`s poetry book it`s avaiable in English language and for those of you speaking German, I translated it into German, which you can buy too. Just go to www.jimmydennis.de and you will find a link.

Okay just wanted to share this
I have been writing to newspapers, politicians, musicians, Tv stations in order to get some support but most people don`t even answer. But I think we just have to keep trying...

Okay, have anice day
Sarah