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Good evening everyone,<br><br>
I am thrilled to report that earlier today Judge Brady issued the
long<br>
anticipated final judgment in Albert's case (attached),
officially<br>
overturning his conviction after 36 years in solitary
confinement!<br><br>
Attorney General Buddy Caldwell immediately told AP reporters that
the<br>
State intends to appeal and retry if necessary saying:
"We respectfully but<br>
vehemently disagree with the judge's ruling ...If this ruling
is<br>
upheld, we will with no question retry Albert Woodfox. We will
take it<br>
as high as we need to go."<br><br>
But no matter how hard the State fights back, this is a huge<br>
victory--Albert is no longer convicted of the murder of Brent
Miller,<br>
and there is at least a possibility he could be released on bail
in<br>
the near future. A big congrats to the attorneys and everyone
who has<br>
refused to give up on the idea that Herman and Albert will one day
be<br>
free.<br><br>
Albert's attorneys and the Chair of the Louisiana House Judiciary<br>
Committee, Representative Cedric Richmond, will hold a joint press<br>
conference call to discuss the ruling tomorrow at 11amC/12amE.
The<br>
press release and call-in numbers are below and<br>
everyone is welcome to tune in if they'd like. If you have
contacts<br>
in the media who may want to cover the story, please forward
the<br>
release to them as well. The AP story has already been picked
up by<br>
hundreds of outlets around the world.<br><br>
HOOORAY! YAHOO!! YIPEEE!!!<br><br>
peace,<br><br>
--<br>
Tory Pegram<br>
Campaign Coordinator<br>
International Coalition to Free the Angola 3<br>
odsllc@gmail.com<br>
504.338.2631<br>
<a href="http://www.angola3.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.angola3.org<br><br>
<br>
</a> COALITION TO FREE THE ANGOLA THREE<br><br>
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
CONTACT: Emma Mackinnon<br><br>
Thursday, September 25, 2008<br>
202.302.6920/emma@fenton.com<br><br>
<br>
*** Press Call FRIDAY at 11 AM Central Dial 1-800-895-1085,
Conf. ID<br>
'ANGOLA' ***<br><br>
Conviction Overturned After 36 Years in Solitary For "Angola
3" Member<br>
Albert Woodfox<br><br>
Federal Judge Orders the State: Must Either Retry or Dismiss
Charges<br>
Against "Angola 3" Member<br><br>
Lawyers: Charges Should be Dismissed Immediately; Otherwise,
Woodfox<br>
Should be Released on Bail<br><br>
In response to a federal judge's decision overturning the
conviction<br>
of Albert Woodfox, one of the two "Angola 3" members who
remain in<br>
prison, lawyers for the men called on the State Attorney
General's<br>
office to drop any further charges and release the men
immediately.<br>
If the state intends to re-try Woodfox, they said, he should
be<br>
released on bail until the time of trial. They argued the
man, now 61<br>
and in poor health, has spent long enough imprisoned on a
wrongful<br>
conviction and that continuing to hold him would be
unthinkable. They<br>
plan a press conference call for tomorrow, Friday, at 11 AM CDT;
to<br>
join, reporters can dial 1-800-895-1085 and provide conference
ID<br>
"Angola."<br><br>
Woodfox and fellow inmate Herman Wallace have been imprisoned
since<br>
1972 for the murder of prison guard Brent Miller. They spent
36 years<br>
of that time in solitary confinement. The federal judge's
ruling<br>
acknowledged that Woodfox has been wrongfully imprisoned.
His<br>
conviction rested on the testimony of a fellow prisoner, a
convicted<br>
serial rapist who was promised and received the warden's help<br>
obtaining a pardon in exchange for testifying against Herman
and<br>
Albert. The deal was not disclosed at trial; the witness was
pardoned<br>
and freed later. An additional witness, who said he had seen Albert
in<br>
the area of the crime, was a schizophrenic who was on heavy doses
of<br>
psychotropic medications at the time of the murder, which also was
not<br>
disclosed. No physical evidence ties Woodfox or Wallace to the
crime.<br><br>
"Both the magistrate judge and the district court judge have
now found<br>
that Woodfox's conviction was invalid and had to be
reversed. Woodfox<br>
has demonstrated the deep flaws in the state's investigation
and<br>
prosecution of the case against him, and has presented evidence of
his<br>
innocence. If the State of Louisiana appeals, it will bear
the burden<br>
of showing the court of appeals that both of the two judges
were<br>
incorrect. As the facts and the law are so clearly on the
side of Mr.<br>
Woodfox, we are confident that the State cannot carry that burden.
No<br>
further legal delay should deprive Albert of even one more day of
his<br>
life," said Chris Aberle, one of Woodfox's lawyers.<br><br>
"The state has already stolen nearly four decades of Albert
Woodfox's<br>
life. The injustice in this case is unfathomable. How can
Louisiana<br>
continue to imprison a 61 year old man after a federal judge has
ruled<br>
that he shouldn't have been convicted in the first place?
Albert must<br>
be released," said Nick Trenticosta, co-counsel in the
case.<br><br>
The third member of the Angola 3, Robert King, was released in
2001<br>
after a judge overturned his conviction. King had spent 29
years in<br>
solitary confinement for a separate crime.<br><br>
For a copy of the ruling or to speak with lawyers in the case,
call<br>
Emma Mackinnon at 202-302-6920 or email emma@fenton.com. For
Friday's<br>
11 AM CDT call, dial 1-800-895-1085 and provide conference ID<br>
"Angola"; please RSVP for the call by emailing
emma@fenton.com.<br><br>
<br>
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