Tuesday, February 26, 2013

BREAKING: Judge Brady overturns Albert Woodfox's conviction for a third time!




NEWS COVERAGE:  Democracy Now interviews Robert King and Mwalimu Johnson (featured by the Havana Times) II  Amy Goodman's Truthdig column  II  The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)  II  The Root (Katti Gray)


On February 26, District Court Judge Brady released a 34-page ruling that granted habeas to Albert on the issue of racial discrimination in the selection of the grand jury foreperson for his 1998 retrial. This decision now overturns Albert’s conviction for a third time (view/download a PDF of Judge Brady's ruling here).


In the 34-page ruling, Judge Brady reviews the arguments of both sides and concludes that Albert's team used the correct baseline for comparison, and that using that baseline, the discrimination is statistically significant no matter which tests are used. It was the State's burden in these proceedings to prove that there was a race neutral procedure in place for selecting forepersons. Judge Brady agreed with Albert that the State failed to do this.

Just as when Judge Brady overturned Albert’s conviction in 2008, and the State successfully appealed to the Fifth Circuit to reverse Brady's ruling, the State has announced it will again seek to reverse Brady's decision on appeal. Therefore, nothing is certain except that the legal team and A3 supporters will not stop fighting until this ruling is affirmed by the 5th Circuit and Albert is finally a free man.

This is an important victory, thanks in no small part to the efforts of our supporters!

As we learn more, we will post updates here, so please check back for more information about Albert’s case. For more background, this is our report from the evidentiary hearing that preceded today's ruling. Also, to help us with outreach at this critical time, you can download an updated A3 flyer here.

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