Blogs by Cynth'ya Lewis Reed
Another Poet Dies By Racism!
7/26/2007 10:47:03 AM
Darrell Grayson, poet and prisoner for 26 years now, is scheduled to be executed today at 5 PM in the state of Alabama. Please add your voice to stay his execution. The why’s are below. Quick easy info here though – please make ONE PHONE CALL that is pain-free:
THE HONORABLE GOVERNOR BOB RILEY
State Capitol
600 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, Alabama 36130
No time left to write!!
Call: (334) 242 7100
Fax: 334-353-0004
From: amy king
Date: July 26, 2007 9:47:48 AM EDT
To: WOM-PO.LISTS.USM.MAINE.EDU
Subject: Poet to be executed at 5p.m. TODAY -- PLEASE TAKE A FEW SECONDS
Reply-To: "Discussion of Women's Poetry List"
Darrell Grayson, poet and prisoner for 26 years now, is scheduled to be executed today at 5 PM in the state of Alabama. Please add your voice to stay his execution. The why’s are below. Quick easy info here though – please make ONE PHONE CALL that is pain-free:
THE HONORABLE GOVERNOR BOB RILEY
State Capitol
600 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, Alabama 36130
No time left to write!!
Call: (334) 242 7100
Fax: 334-353-0004
A note about phoning the Governor's Office: If you can do this in addition to writing, that is wonderful. If you can only call and not write, * please call *. It is a very easy process. Call (334) 242-7100. Tell the person answering who you are, where you live, and say something like ** "Please count me as having called to ask the Governor to halt the execution of Darrell Grayson." ** They WILL count you and you will find them courteous. They will not engage you in argument, nor will they expect or need you to elaborate. That is best handled in writing.
FAX: 334 242 0937
Website: http://www.governor.state.al.us
Email form: http://www.governor.state.al.us/contact.htm
~~
BIO:
Darrell B. Grayson was raised in Montevallo, Alabama with eleven siblings in a single parent household. He dropped out of school in the ninth grade. At age 19, and with no prior criminal history, he was convicted and received the death penalty from an all white jury. He has been on Death Row at Holman Prison in Atmore, Alabama since 1982. After some years of severe depression, which he describes as spending flat on his back, the death of his mother brought about the decision to better himself. He began to write commentary and poetry and received his GED and Associate Science degree. In 1994 he became active in Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, an organization founded and operated by Death Row inmates. In 2000 he became its chairman. He edits and assembles Wings of Hope, the Project Hope newsletter, with primitive equipment in the prison.
Darrell Grayson’s poetry, which he describes as "a contagion of insecurities,” has appeared in Axis of Logic, Right Hand Pointing, The Dead Mule, Wings of Hope, and elsewhere. He has written three chapbooks of poetry from prison.
~~
DARRELL GRAYSON'S STATEMENT --
http://dalewisely.googlepages.com/darrellgraysonexecutionalert
STATEMENT OF FACTS
After 20+ years on death row and acceptance of guilt, I came to question my participation in the crime of which I was convicted and for which I received the death penalty. My family, friends and acquaintances had never believed it, as I had no prior criminal record or reputation for violence.
Six years ago my belief in my guilt was shaken because a witness who had been with my co-defendant, myself and another individual that night, came forward to state unequivocally that I could not have committed the crime as I was passed out cold on the floor due to drugs and alcohol. Furthermore, the statement from the witness that my co- defendant had borrowed my jacket that night when he left and committed the crime, explained how jewelry belonging to the victim had supposedly been found in my wallet, which I always kept in my pocket. I was not present when the police found the jewelry.
It had never made sense to me how I, a non-secretor, could have my blood type identified from the semen. The Innocence Project determined that the tests used by the State would not have been able to identify my blood type, nor would they have been reliable. The argument made by the State that I could have ejaculated twice did not coincide with my sexual history, which told me that when under the influence, I would not even be able to ejaculate once, let alone twice. My total inebriation has never been in question.
In the eyes of my attorneys and the state my guilt had largely rested on my “confession” and that I never retracted it. I did not retract it because I have no knowledge of that night. Hindsight tells me that my confession was due to questionable evidence and suggested scenario presented to me, a suggestive personality, psychological intimidation with good cop/bad cop tactics and my debilitated physical and emotional state due to substance withdrawal.
[Continued in detail here -- http://dalewisely.googlepages.com/darrellgraysonexecutionalert ]
~~
Richard Bell, Darrell's original trial attorney, has written the Governor with an excellent summary of the injustices associated with this case.
“...there is great question as to whether Darrell Grayson did, in fact, commit this crime.
Darrell Grayson was caught in the trap of poverty and was unable to present his defense to the jury in this case. As I once stated to the Supreme Court during oral argument, the method of funding or lack thereof in this case was tantamount to having my hands tied behind me...”
Attorney Richard Bell to Gov. Riley, July 16, 2007
---
Reviews of I'M THE MAN WHO LOVES YOU
Matt Hart / Coldfront Magazine
http://reviews.coldfrontmag.com/2007/06/im_the_man_who_.html
Mark Lamoureux / BOOG City
http://static.scribd.com/docs/kflyu7ufa6w1n.swf
Nick Piombino / fait accompli
http://nickpiombino.blogspot.com/2007_03_18_archive.html
Thomas Fink / Galatea Resurrects
http://galatearesurrection6.blogspot.com/2007/05/im-man-who-loves-you-by-amy-king.html
~
Recent Review of ANTIDOTES FOR AN ALIBI
Adam Fieled / Stoning the Devil
http://adamfieled.blogspot.com/2007/05/book-review-amy-king-antidote-for-alibi.html
~
What To Wear During An Orange Alert?
http://wearduringorangealert.blogspot.com/2007/07/writers-corner_12.html
~
http://www.amyking.org/blog
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