--howard guidry

in 1995, eighteen year old howard guidry was forced by lying policemen
to confess to a murder that he did not commit. they told him they
would put him on the "fast track" to death row if he did not sign a
confession. they did not let him see his lawyer. they lied to him and told
him that his lawyer wanted him to sign a confession.

with only a forced, illegal confession and hearsay testimony from the
girlfriend of the suspected killer, the state of texas sent howard to
death row for a decade. that is to say, they stole 87,600 hours of this
young man's life.

in 2003, after a comedy of errors revealed the true nature of how
howard was sent to death row, federal judge vanessa gilmore threw
out the evidence and ordered houston to retry or release howard
within 180 days. the state of texas appealed the ruling, but the fifth
circuit court in lousiana upheld it and the u.s. supreme court refused
to hear the case.

3 years later, a thirty year old howard is finally getting a re-trial for a
murder the state still wants to pin on him, even though they have no
evidence and no case.

on july 16, the night before jury selection is set to begin, we will hold
an evening of solidarity with howard guidry.

local poets will read some of howard's poetry. brother kenya will
musically entertain & educate, and anti-death penalty activists
njeri shakur and gloria rubac will speak about howard's case as
well as the systemic injustices that are at work in this racist,
anti-poor criminal justice system.

come show your solidarity with howard and other political prisoners.
together, we can stop the racist death penalty and end the
prison-industrial complex. alone, we can only mourn.

"when a cause comes along and you know in your bones
that it is just, yet refuse to defend it--at that moment you
begin to die. and i have never seen so many corpses
walking around talking about justice." - mumia abu-jamal