We followed the hearings for Rodney Reed with great interest and were pleased about the extensive coverage by the press. In a conversation on GBH entitled Rodney Reed And Why It’s So Hard To Overturn Wrongful Convictions Daniel Medwed , Northeastern law professor and GBH News legal analyst, believes that the 2375 prisoners who have been exonerated since 1989 are just the tip of the innocence iceberg. We couldn’t agree more and quote Medwed: “the system places a premium on finality. After you lose at trial the presumption of innocence converts into a presumption of guilt, and it becomes increasingly hard to rebut that presumption over time. A host of obstacles in the appellate and post-conviction process — things like short statutes of limitations, strict standards of review, narrow visions about what claims may be raised — reinforce this concept of finality.” Unfortunately for us and many others this is not generally understood not even by those who have the power to grant clemency. We hope Governor Ivey listened to the conversation!

As usual we went over the latest Death Penalty Information Weekly updates and other legal news of our members. We shared the reply from Governor Ivey to a letter from Alabama Arise recommending principles for the allocation of ARPA funds. We had signed on as one of 42 organizations. We also researched information requested by our Advisory Board Member Dr. Katie Owens-Murphy who is working on a manuscript of our history and Wings of Hope. We have a well organized closet thanks to one of our diligent member which makes it easy for us to readily find the answer to anything requested. Another item of what one might call housekeeping was updating the cell location of all who receive our newsletter at Holman so Esther can update the mailing list.

In closing and as always, we continue to thank all our generous donors who either gave by going to our website and using the “donate” button or who gave directly. Thank you also to all who took the time to read our notes, commented, liked and shared them on Facebook. You encourage us and make all the difference. Stay safe!

Esther