Dear Sir/Madam,

I am an Alabama Death Row inmate housed at Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer Alabama. I'm writing you as a member of a small group that hopes to start our own INNOCENCE PROJECT. In Alabama there are a few advocacy groups attempting to abolish the Death Penalty or to have a moratorium imposed on executions. Sadly none of these group seem to make any progress. So our goal is to raise awareness of issues that place INNOCENT men and women on Death Row. We want our message heard here in our state but hope to reach a much larger audience. The Alabama Capital Punishment system is flawed and full of error. We hope to expose this and regain our FREEDOM. We have lawyers, we have family support. Yet rather than sit here passively, or idly waiting we decided to take an active role in getting our voices heard. Thus, we ask for your help.

We are in the grass roots stage of our project. Therefore we're looking for assistance and guidance. We look for help from already established INNOCENCE PROJECTS, advocacy groups or individuals that oppose the Death Penalty. We want to set up a contact/resource list with the hopes of our supporters joining together as ONE VOICE. We recognize it takes everyone, no assistance is too small, no voice goes unrecognized. We welcome help in any form.

In the Troy Davis case in Georgia he gathered more than a MILLION signatures in the days before his execution. I ask, had those supporters gotten involved in the early stages of his appeal would it have been the difference? I feel it would have saved his life, possibly proven his innocence. So I ask you to join me NOW. Be a part of our MILLION, our TEN MILLION. If you can offer assistance in any form, even if it's just words of encouragement, please write me here...

Donald Deardorff
Z-681 U22-1A
100 Warrior Lane
Bessemer, Alabama 35023

I'll provide contact information for my attorneys and a detailed list of my ACTUAL INNOCENCE issues to any who contact me.

Warmest Regards...
[signature: Don]

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Voices From ALABAMA Death Row
"A Search for Justice"
[Clipart image of hands with palms pressed together]

I know you are asking today how long will it take. I come to say to you this afternoon, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because truth pressed to Earth shall rise again. How Long? Not long, because no lie can live forever. How Long? Not Long because you still reap what you sow. How Long? Not Long because the arm of moral universe is long but it bends toward Justice.

Martin Luther King Jr.

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As in the words of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, join us in our Fight for Freedom. Today!

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Donald Deardorff

My name is Donald Deardorff. I am a 46 year old white male. I am writing this in the hopes that my actions and participation with a group of fellow Death Row inmates will help the public to reach a better understanding of how Alabama's Capital Punishment system is designed.

My position from the start has been ACTUAL INNOCENCE. My case and conviction came before what I call the "CSI" era. For several years now, people have watched these crime drama shows where-- in an hour-- police solve crimes using science. Almost all the plots give the appearance of a clearly guilty person. Then in less than an hour some forensic tool proves the guilty person is the least likely connection. Sounds good but in real life nothing could be farther from the truth.

Most situation, real life, the first person law enforcement target IS the only person they focus on. Law enforcement, prosecutors, even judges are more concerned with solving a crime, getting that conviction ratio higher, telling the public how hard on crime they are, than making sure a person is really guilty.

Once charged with a capital crime, the cost of defending one's innocence is higher than what all but a select few could afford. So people are almost forced to accept the appointment of representation that the court chooses. In one recent study, a lawyer stated that he made approximately five dollars an hour after defending a Capital case. With Alabama having no set system, lawyers are often poorly trained on how to defend cases with such dire consequences. Yet law enforcement and District Attorney staff have an almost unlimited resource of training, many hold special seminars on how to actually get the Death Penalty.

Many times law enforcement and so-called state experts testify about evidence recovered. As proven in 2006, when the FBI scrapped many of their own test procedures as faulty or possibly prone to error, many lawyers don't know the minimum procedures. So false test results, false testimony are often placed in front of a jury.

One of the leading tools prosecutors use these days are jail house snitches; someone who's been given some type of reward for his testimony. Ask yourself, How could you combat this, convince a jury that person was lying? As long as they are willing to maintain that testimony, a defendant has no chance to dispute it. Wait, what if you had another jail inmate who would testify that the snitch was lying. Someone who would swear under oath, just like the snitch did, that what he said was the truth? That the snitch was bragging he had a get out of jail free card, begging other inmates to say what he tells them to bolster his testimony. Would that do it? No, let me say it again, No. Not under Alabama Law. That would be called hearsay and the court would refuse to allow their testimony. Is that to be considered a fair system?

I am telling you now, here in print, there are dozens of other issues. Race does play into the conviction process. Wait, I am not just talking about black defendants. In my case, prospective black jurors were struck because in Alabama blacks typically vote for Life without Parole rather than Death. Blacks do encounter more police than the average white person. Call it profiling, social environments, or maybe blacks are just more aware of how their own race is treated. So during a Capital murder trial, when defense lawyers raise their issues of corrupt law enforcement, tainted or fabricated evidence; blacks pay closer attention because they believe it does still happen in today's time. That is why prosecutors prefer white jurors.

As I said, there are dozens of issues that could be raised as proof of our wrongful convictions. Don't believe me? Then I challenge you to look closer yourself. Contact me directly; I've had TEN YEARS here on Death Row to study it.

In closing, I'd like to say, I grew up in and around Baldwin County Alabama. I drove past the prisons, saw people out on the road during execution times. I just never gave it a second thought. It didn't affect me, why should I care? Today most people struggle to keep food on the table, a roof over their head. Times are hard. So why should you care about us? My only heartfelt answer is, If I am telling you this happened to me, to others here like me. Maybe tomorrow it could happen to you, or your father, your mother, your son or daughter. By the time, you began to pay attention; they might be here—wrongfully convicted too.

You can always reach me here, I promise a quick reply to any letter. (see contact listing)

Thank you...
Donald Deardorff

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James A Johnson

My name is James Allen Johnson, I am 38 years old and am presently housed at Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, Alabama on Alabama's Death Row unit.

It is my hope in writing to acquire help fighting against an unjust justice system that has allowed for me, AN innocent man to be placed on Death Row.

It is my intention to offer you some of the facts surrounding this case that will interest you in assisting with help in a state that imposes the Death Penalty arbitrarily and corruptly.

Factual Support Information

1. In 1996, I was charged with murder/robbery of Ms. Charlene Lawson who was a clerk at a BP Gas Station in Jasper, Alabama.
2. In 1999, I was convicted of murder/robbery of Ms. Lawson who was a young white female by an all white jury and sentenced to death on June 3, 1999.
3. I was represented by court appointed counsel who did not look at any of the alleged evidence. In fact, it was testified to by Lt. Gilbert Jean of the Jasper Police Dept. that counsel, Mr. Patrick Gustin told him that he did not have the time to look at any evidence and never returned to look at any evidence.
4. There was only one piece of physical evidence in this case. A 38 caliber revolver which was test-fired by the Alabama Forensic Department and compared with bullets from the crime scene. The results were inconclusive.
5. The state's only "eye witness" gave three separate statements in which the first statement, taken the day of the crime because he was in the vicinity buying crack cocaine was that he saw nothing. Later, after being arrested and placed in Walker County Jail for a parole violation on a prior charge, he gave a statement that he saw Ira Norris and another black male. In this third statement, he said that he saw Ira Norris and upon being in jail he recognized the other black male as "James Johnson".

He said that he was positive in his identification of me because I had a "pitchfork tattoo" on my arms. In fact, this crime happened August 28, 1995 and Walker County jail booking and docketing records will show that the first time I was arrested on an unrelated charge was November 1995 and there was no tattoos listed. Walker County jail records for March 1996 will also show that there were no tattoos on my arms at all. This is a fact that my trial lawyer counsel could have produced to the jury if he had not been so ineffective.

Conclusion
There are numerous other facts that show my innocence but they cannot be contained in a cover letter. I am not the only man who has received injustice in the state of Alabama. Nor am I the only person who is innocent that is sitting on Alabama's Death Row. I am one of MANY. We are not asking for mercy or compassion, what we are asking for is justice for us and our families, which has been so long denied.

Thank You
James Johnson

(see Contact Listing)

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Willie D Minor