URGENT PETITION
A petition, set up on
'Color of Change' by supporter Marlene Belliveau on behalf of
Rodricus Crawford's family, implores Caddo Parish District Attorney
James
Stewart, "to look at the concrete evidence and facts before you. Mr
Crawford did not kill his son. You have sworn to justice...it is your
duty to exonerate this young man." The petition can be found at the following link. (In
view of the rapidly approaching appeal - set for Wednesday September 7 -
supporters should get their message to Mr. Stewart as soon as possible.
HL);
https://campaigns.organizefor.org/petitions/on-death-row-for-a-murder-that-wasn-t
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Rodricus Crawford's appeal is set for Wednesday, September 7, 2016. It is imperative that public attention be brought to this appeal as there is a ominous danger that Louisiana will be executing an innocent father whose 1-year-old son died of pneumonia - unless the Louisiana Supreme Court intervenes. (Contrary to the the testimony of the pathologist testifying for the prosecution who dismissed the medical factors as the cause of death without a scientific basis for doing so, also gave his equally unscientific opinion that Rodricus Crawford had smothered Roderius to death - as is demonstrated by forensic evidence (affidavits) filed by his lawyers which will be published later in this series.) As will be seen over the course of the series, it didn't help that Crawford was prosecuted by the notorious Dale Cox in Caddo Parish, which, as the Fair Punishment Project reports, has a disproportionate number of death sentences. I implore whoever reads these posts to share them as widely as possible, to make sure that Louisiana's Supreme Court understands the urgency of stopping this execution in its tracks and put an end to the prosecution. This second post in the series focuses on Rodricus Crawford's case in the context of Yolanda Young's powerful video documentary 'Why does this town keep putting innocent Blacks on Death Row?'
VIDEO DOCUMENTARY; 'Why does this town keep putting innocent Black Men on Death Row,' produced and directed by Yolanda Young; (Yolanda Young's columns have appeared in The Washington Post, USA TODAY, and Slate. She frequently appears on CNN, NPR, and Huffington Post Live.)
GIST: 'Shreveport, Louisiana, the seat of Caddo Parish is the death row capital of the United States. Rodricus Crawford is only the latest innocent Black man to be trapped in this racist justice system. The Louisiana Supreme Court will hear his appeal on Wednesday, Sept. 7. As Young notes: "This video explains why Caddo "Bloody" Parish, comprised mostly of Shreveport, Louisiana is the death penalty capital of the nation, just as it led the nation in lynchings. I am doing a week-long series to coincide with the capital appeal hearing of Rodricus Crawford, the latest innocent Black man to be sentenced to death there." Yolanda Young.
VOICES: The
viewer also hears, among others, the voice of attorney Marty
Stroud, who understands first hand the dark soul of Caddo Parish as the prosecutor of Glenn Ford because of the remorse he now feels over the vehemence, arrogance and under-handed tactics he employed as a Caddo Parish death penalty prosecutor to secure the execution of an innocent man. The voices of Stroud and others are presented to the visual backdrop of a fascinating, if not
occasionally disturbing, visual backdrop.
The entire video can be found at the link below:
http://rollingout.com/2016/08/28/why-does-this-town-keep-putting-innocent-black-men-on-death-row/
See Yolanda Young's article published by The Guardian on March 13, 2016, at the link below: "America's death penalty capital: can a black DA really change the system? After years of what many say was a culture of unjust death penalty prosecutions fueled by racial bias in Louisiana’s Caddo Parish, James Stewart’s election offers cautious hope but some are not so quick to call him a savior."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/13/caddo-parish-louisiana-death-penalty-capital-district-attorney
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I am monitoring this case. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
See Yolanda Young's article published by The Guardian on March 13, 2016, at the link below: "America's death penalty capital: can a black DA really change the system? After years of what many say was a culture of unjust death penalty prosecutions fueled by racial bias in Louisiana’s Caddo Parish, James Stewart’s election offers cautious hope but some are not so quick to call him a savior."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/13/caddo-parish-louisiana-death-penalty-capital-district-attorney
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I am monitoring this case. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
