Friends,

We are sad to announce that the State of Alabama took the life of Willie B. Smith III tonight at Holman Prison. Our thoughts are with Willie’s wife, mother, family, spiritual advisor and friends as well as with his dedicated and generous attorneys.

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 for how they stood with us, collecting 60,000 signatures and organizing the virtual vigil. A special thank you to the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP for sending out notification of our vigils! As always, we especially thank our sister organization JAM in Birmingham.

We know that justice is not done when a human being is murdered, whether it is by an individual or by the State. Thank you for continuing to stand with us so that one day we may overcome at last! R.I.P. Willie!

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