<html>
<body>
<font size=3>greetings,<br><br>
i am sending you this information regarding a prisoner on death row
in <br>
Indiana named Zolo Agona Azania. His sentencing hearing is
scheduled <br>
to begin October 20th in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. We are sending you
this <br>
information with the hope that you will help to generate support
for <br>
this brother and help us to have observers at his trial from the
<br>
community there in Ft. Wayne. Please see the attached documents and
<br>
distribute widely to others.<br><br>
Thank you for you support,<br>
hondo<br>
for the No Death Penalty for Zolo Committee<br><br>
</font><font size=4><b>No Death Penalty for Zolo Agona Azania!<br><br>
<br>
</b></font><font size=3>The Indiana courts have set a new date for a
trial before a jury on the sole issue of a sentence for Zolo Azania,
which could be the death penalty, on October 20, 2008.<br>
<br>
Since 1981, for more than 25 years, he has been imprisoned by the state
of Indiana Zolo did not receive a fair trial and has always maintained
his total innocence of any involvement in the crime for which he is
imprisoned.<br>
<br>
Zolo is a prolific writer and an accomplished artist whose work has been
exhibited in many places around the country. His writing and his
art reflect who he is: A man who lives his political convictions.
At the time of his arrest for the shooting death of a policeman, Zolo was
a well known activist in his hometown of Gary, Indiana. He was an
ex-con who had grown up in extreme poverty, but he was also the
valedictorian of his CETA federal job training class and had received a
scholarship to Purdue University just prior to his arrest. He was
involved in the campaign to make Martin Luther King's birthday a national
holiday and had designed a button used by campaigners in Gary.
Since his arrest Zolo has fought the charges against him from his prison
cell, often on death row. His tireless efforts have exposed the
unfair and racist way his case has been handled by the authorities.
He has defended his own rights and the rights of other prisoners winning
the respect of fellow prisoners and jailers alike. His victories,
overturning his death sentence twice, have set precedents cited by other
prisoners.<br>
<br>
As Indiana Circuit Court Judge Steve David wrote in a May, 2005 decision:
"fundamental principles of fairness, due process, and speedy
justice" were violated in Zolo's case. Judge David also
pointed out that "the State bears most of the responsibility for the
delay between the defendant's 1982 conviction and the currently pending
penalty proceeding." In 1993, the Indiana Supreme Court overturned
Zolo's original death sentence because the prosecution had failed to turn
over a gunshot residue test. In 2002, the Indiana Supreme Court
overturned Zolo's second death sentence because "the jury pool
selection process was fundamentally flawed," including the
unconstitutional exclusion of Blacks.<br>
<br>
Judge Steve David ruled that prosecutors could no longer seek the death
penalty because Zolo’s constitutional rights to a speedy trial and due
process would be violated. But prosecutors appealed and two years
later, the court ruled that “neither the delay nor any prejudice that
Azania may suffer from it violates his constitutional rights…the State
may continue to seek the death penalty. The Court then appointed
Marion Superior Court Judge Robert Altice as special judge to preside
over Zolo’s new penalty phase, because Judge Steven David was called to
active military duty.<br>
<br>
Now the Indiana courts have set a new date for a trial before a jury on
the sole issue of Zolo’s sentence on October 20, 2008. The
proceeding will probably be in Fort Wayne, however Zolo and his lawyers,
Jesse A. Cook of Terre Haute, Indiana and Michael E. Deutsch of the
National Lawyers Guild and the People’s Law Office in Chicago are
fighting for a change of venue to Gary, Indiana or Indianapolis, both
cities with a more diverse jury pool. Zolo hopes that progressive
activists will again pack the courtroom to show their opposition to the
death penalty as they have in the past.<br>
<br>
The Indiana courts have also held that Zolo’s new sentencing proceeding
will be conducted pursuant to the current Indiana death penalty statute
enacted in 2002, which means that when the trial court judge receives a
sentencing recommendation from the jury, the judge is to sentence the
defendant “accordingly” – whether the jury recommends the death penalty,
or a term of years.<br>
<br>
The jury will thus be presented with the stark choice of the death
penalty or Zolo’s release within a short time, and the danger is that the
jurors will chose the death penalty because they may succumb to media
hysteria and believe that a person convicted of killing a police officer
is too dangerous to let out of prison. The Indiana Supreme Court
has written that “In Azania’s case, the specter of an unconstitutional
sentence particularly arises where the jury might consider Azania’s
future dangerousness. We held that future dangerousness was not a concern
in Azania’s re-sentencing, because the trial judge would have the final
say in applying the death penalty and because the jury system requires
that we trust juries to follow the law in their deliberations. With the
trial judge’s sentencing discretion limited by the 2002 death penalty
statute amendment, we emphasize again…that a trial judge is not expected,
and indeed not permitted, to enter a sentence where the sentence, or the
manner of arriving at it, is illegal."<br>
<br>
The stakes are high for this next step in Zolo’s more than a quarter
century of fighting for justice, for his freedom and for his very life.
Those who oppose the death penalty need to continue to get the word out
that Zolo is a wonderful person who contributed much to the lives of
others and still has much to contribute, and that the government should
not be allowed to put him to death.<br>
<br>
<b><i>You can support Zolo by:</i>
<ul>
<li>Writing a letter to Lake County Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter</b>
asserting that plans for a third death penalty trial for Zolo be
droppedit is inhumane and wasteful of Indiana’s resources. The address
is: Prosecutor
Bernard A. Carter
</ul>
Building ‘B’ 1st Floor<br>
2239 Main St.<br>
Crown Point, IN 46307
<ul>
<li><b>Attending Zolo’s sentencing trial which is scheduled for October
20th, 2008</b>
<li><b>Writing a letter to an Indiana newspaper or your local paper about
Zolo’s case </b>
</ul><div align="center"><i>Gary Post-Tribune<br>
</i></div>
1433 East 83rd Avenue<br>
Merrillville, IN 46410-6307<br>
Email:
<a href="mailto:editor@post-trib.com">editor@post-trib.com</a><br>
<i>Indianapolis Star<br>
</i>P.O. Box 145<br>
307 N. Pennsylvania St.<br>
Indianapolis, IN 46206-0145<br>
<i>Fort-Wayne Journal Gazette<br>
</i>P.O. Box 100<br>
600 W. Main St.<br>
Fort Wayne, IN 4680-0088<br>
<b>
<ul>
<li>Setting up a discussion about Zolo’s case at your church, home, civic
organization</b> <b>
<li>Writing to Zolo: </b> Zolo
Agona Azania, #4969
</ul>
Indiana State Prison<br>
P.O. Box 41<br>
Michigan City, Indiana 46361-0041
<ul>
<li><b>Joining the NO DEATH PENALTY FOR ZOLO Committee</b>
</ul>
P.O. Box 478314<br>
Chicago IL 60647<br>
<a href="http://www.zoloazania.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.zoloazania.org<br>
</a>
Email:
<a href="mailto:crsn@aol.com">zoloazania@gmail.com</a>
<br>
Phone: 773-318-3079<br>
<ul>
<li><b>Sending a donation to the NO DEATH PENALTY FOR ZOLO Committee</b>
</ul> <br>
For more info
see:
<a href="http://www.zoloazania.org/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.zoloazania.org/<br>
</a>
<a href="http://www.prairiefire.org/Zolo/Zolo_0505_judge_orderB.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.prairiefire.org/Zolo/Zolo_0505_judge_orderB.pdf<br>
</a>
<a href="http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/05100701fsj.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/05100701fsj.pdf<br>
</a>
<a href="http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/11070701fsj.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/11070701fsj.pdf<br>
</a>
<a href="http://www.in.gov/judiciary/center/pubs/caseclips/2007/cc31.html#azania" eudora="autourl">
http://www.in.gov/judiciary/center/pubs/caseclips/2007/cc31.html#azania<br>
<br>
<br><br>
</a></font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>