Friends,

We are sad to announce that the State of Alabama took the life of Kenny Smith at Holman Prison.

Our thoughts are with Kenny’s family, especially his wife and mother, his spiritual advisor the Rev. Jeff Hood, his attorneys and his many friends on death row at Holman and on the outside.

We thank all of you who wrote, faxed, tweeted and called the Governor to let her know that Alabama does not kill in our name. We thank everyone who organized and attended vigils around the state and who joined with us from abroad. We thank Death Penalty Action, Amnesty International, AL state Conference of the NAACP, Alabama Arise, Alabama New South Coalition, San Egidio in Rome, Witness to Innocence, the Evangelical Network of EJUSA, L’Chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty, Faith In Action Alabama for how they stood with us. We also thank the Alabama organizations who sent out information. As always, we especially thank our sister organization JAM in Birmingham.

Our greatest thanks go to Kenny who taught us that Love, Hope and Faith are more powerful than death. We will not forget! R.I.P, Kenny! We love you.

Esther and the Board of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty