[Ppnews] No Death Penalty for Zolo Agona Azania!
Political Prisoner News
ppnews at freedomarchives.org
Mon Sep 29 10:32:19 EDT 2008
greetings,
i am sending you this information regarding a prisoner on death row in
Indiana named Zolo Agona Azania. His sentencing hearing is scheduled
to begin October 20th in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. We are sending you this
information with the hope that you will help to generate support for
this brother and help us to have observers at his trial from the
community there in Ft. Wayne. Please see the attached documents and
distribute widely to others.
Thank you for you support,
hondo
for the No Death Penalty for Zolo Committee
No Death Penalty for Zolo Agona Azania!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
You can support Zolo by:
* Writing a letter to Lake County Prosecutor
Bernard A. Carter 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
Building ‘B’ 1st Floor
2239 Main St.
Crown Point, IN 46307
* Attending Zolo’s sentencing trial which is
scheduled for October 20th, 2008
* Writing a letter to an Indiana newspaper or
your local paper about Zolo’s case
Gary Post-Tribune
1433 East 83rd Avenue
Merrillville, IN 46410-6307
Email: <mailto:editor at post-trib.com>editor at post-trib.com
Indianapolis Star
P.O. Box 145
307 N. Pennsylvania St.
Indianapolis, IN 46206-0145
Fort-Wayne Journal Gazette
P.O. Box 100
600 W. Main St.
Fort Wayne, IN 4680-0088
* Setting up a discussion about Zolo’s case
at your church, home, civic organization
* Writing to Zolo: Zolo Agona Azania, #4969
Indiana State Prison
P.O. Box 41
Michigan
City, Indiana 46361-0041
* Joining the NO DEATH PENALTY FOR ZOLO Committee
P.O. Box 478314
Chicago IL 60647
www.zoloazania.org
Email:
<mailto:crsn at aol.com>zoloazania at gmail.com
Phone: 773-318-3079
* Sending a donation to the NO DEATH PENALTY FOR ZOLO Committee
For more info see: http://www.zoloazania.org/
http://www.prairiefire.org/Zolo/Zolo_0505_judge_orderB.pdf
http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/05100701fsj.pdf
http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/11070701fsj.pdf
http://www.in.gov/judiciary/center/pubs/caseclips/2007/cc31.html#azania
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
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