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: (A): 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. In this nineteenth post of the
series in anticipation of Rodricus Crawford's appeal set for Wednesday
(September 7) you will find an article published today (September 5) - two days
before Rodicrus Crawford's appeal - which I find terribly hard to believe. (but I wish were true). It says that
the new Caddo Parish prosecutor James Stewart has changed the
direction of his office (Previously characterized by the notorious Dale
Crawford and others, distinguished by an insatiable appetite for the death
penalty, and now will only call for the death penalty in the most egregious
case. If that is indeed the case, how can he go before the Louisiana Supreme
Court Wednesday and fight to keep Rodricus Crawford, an innocent young
Black man, who's 1-year-old son Roderius died of pneumonia and a related
sepsis, on death row so that the State can snuff out his life. Sure sounds like
the old regime to me. Especially after After his outrageous conviction at the
hands of Dale Cox, who deserves to go into the history books as 'D.A.
Death," in a case where no murder occurred).
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
PUBLISHER'S NOTE 'B." Read this: "Cox
stirred up a firestorm when he said to the New
York Times, "We
should kill more people." He transformed from an opponent of
capital punishment, to one of the country's bluntest advocates for it.
"You have to understand he was not elected, he was selected," said
Stewart. "And I think we have a different approach as to how we look at
first-degree murder cases." But
Stewart says he's taking the parish into a new direction. He's decided not
to seek the death penalty in most of the cases he inherited. He reviewed every
capital case pending before his office. "I brought in a group of people
who I thought were very objective. We operate under justice, and mercy with
humility." He's decided to move forward with just one: Grover Cannon, for
murdering Shreveport police officer Thomas LaValley. "We believe there's a great chance that a
jury would give the defendant the death penalty, so we're going to seek the
death penalty in that case," said Stewart. The death penalty was dropped
in six others." My question: If Stewart has decided to move on only
one death penalty case, why would he be defending Rodricus Crawford's ludicrus
conviction and death penalty sentence at the hands of 'DA Death' at the appeal
on Wednesday - instead of moving as quickly to drop the indictment and free
Rodricus as an actually innocent ASAP. PS: In case I missed it, the story does
not even mention Rodricus Crawford. Something seems missing in this picture.
HL;
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
STORY:"Caddo DA taking office in new direction following
death penalty firestorm," by reporter Alanna Quillen, published by KTBS
TV on September 5, 2016.
GIST:
"Caddo Parish, La: "Ten months ago, the new district attorney,
James Stewart stepped into an office with a national reputation as blood
thirsty. From 2010 to 2014, Caddo Parish put more people on death row than any
other parish or county in the nation. That was under his predecessors,
Charles Scott, and then Dale Cox -- who took over when Scott died in 2015. And
just last summer, the Caddo Parish district attorney's office was burning
in the national spotlight over how often it seeks the death penalty. Cox
stirred up a firestorm when he said to the New
York Times, "We
should kill more people." He transformed from an opponent of
capital punishment, to one of the country's bluntest advocates for it.
"You have to understand he was not elected, he was selected," said
Stewart. "And I think we have a different approach as to how we look at
first-degree murder cases." But Stewart says he's taking the parish into a
new direction. He's decided not to seek the death penalty in most of the
cases he inherited. He reviewed every capital case pending before his office.
"I brought in a group of people who I thought were very objective. We
operate under justice, and mercy with humility." He's decided to move
forward with just one: Grover Cannon, for murdering Shreveport police officer
Thomas LaValley. "We believe there's a great chance that a jury would give
the defendant the death penalty, so we're going to seek the death penalty in
that case," said Stewart. The death penalty was dropped in six others. Cox
says his exposure to so many heinous crimes, changed his views on capital
punishment. Stewart says it has its place, but he takes a much more
measured approach. He points to decades of appeals, the growing trend against
capital punishment and the fact executions are on hold for at least two years
because drugs aren't available for lethal injections. "The death penalty
is a very expensive process in terms of money, time and resources so we only
want to use that for the worst cases," he said.""
http://www.ktbs.com/story/33014597/caddo-da-taking-office-in-new-direction
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: (C);
I am monitoring this case. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: (C);
