Death Row Exonerees Join Tuesday Pinellas Anti-Death Penalty Demonstration

CLEARWATER, FL – Exonerated Death Row survivors will participate in an anti-death penalty demonstration on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 after the Florida Supreme Court issued a stay of execution for Jose Jimenez on Friday, August 10, 2018. Jose Jimenez has always maintained his innocence. The recent discovery of 80 pages of evidence that were hidden from Jimenez’s defense at trial has especially struck a nerve with Death Row exonerees in Florida.

WHAT: Demonstration for life over death
WHEN: 5:00pm – 6:00pm on Tuesday, August 14^th
WHERE: Intersection of Ulmerton Road and 49^thStreet N., Clearwater, FL
WHO: Ron Wright, Jr., convicted and sentenced to death in Pinellas County and now the 27th and most recent exonerated Florida Death Row survivor, Herman Lindsey, the 23rd Florida Death Row exoneree, and Tampa Bay Area resident Derrick Jamison, who was exonerated and released after almost 20 years on Death Row in Ohio. The event is hosted by Pax Christi Tampa Bay, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Witness to Innocence, and Peace First.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center’s Innocence List, there have been 162 innocent people exonerated and freed from U.S. Death Rows since 1973. Florida accounts for 27 of those exonerations, by far the most in the nation. Derral Hogkins, convicted 2013 – acquitted 2015 and Ron Wright, Jr, convicted 2014 – acquitted 2017, are the most recently released exonorees from Florida’s Death Row. They were convicted and sentenced to death in the Pinellas/Pasco Circuit under the jurisdiction of State Attorney Bernie McCabe.

Herman Lindsey, Exonerated Florida Death Row survivor and Board Member of Witness to Innocence stated: “It’s time for Florida to own-up to the mistakes it has made in sentencing so many innocent people to death. It’s time to end this legalized killing spree and make our communities safer by reforming our criminal justice system in a way that heals communities without promoting and glorifying needless violence, killing, and cruelty as a solution.”

Mark Elliott, director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty stated: “Florida’s killing of captive prisoners is legalized, ritualized, premeditated murder. It’s not only un-Christian, it’s anti-Christian. It’s not only un-American, it’s anti-American. It’s not only inhumane, it’s anti-human. It’s time to end it.”

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Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) is a non-profit and non-partisan Florida organization of individuals and groups united to abolish the Death Penalty in Florida