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Dear Friend,

Breaking News! 

Today, after 15 years in solitary confinement, Damon Thibodeaux has been exonerated in Louisiana and freed from death row. As I write this, he is enjoying his first hours of freedom after walking out of Angola prison just before 1pm EDT.

Donate now to help end the death penalty!

Damon Thibodeaux was sentenced to death in 1997, after a 9-hour police interrogation where he confessed to a crime he did not commit. The case is unique in that Jefferson Parrish District Attorney Paul Connick cooperated with Thibodeaux’s legal team on an extensive multi-year reinvestigation of the murder, that included numerous rounds of DNA testing excluding Damon as the perpetrator.  A prosecution expert analyzing Thibodeaux’s interrogation concluded that he falsely confessed to the crime largely out of fear that he would be executed.    

This cannot be allowed to happen again - we must abolish the death penalty as soon as possible! 

Mr. Thibodeaux is the 141st person exonerated from death row in the United States, and the 9th from Louisiana. The Times-Picayune has details on the case. We note that of the 141 death row exonerees, he is only the 18th to be freed using DNA technology. 

Donate Now to help the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty achieve our mission!

Most people facing a death sentence and execution do not have the kind of competent representation necessary to prove their innocence and save their life. That is why the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty is determined to end capital punishment - it distorts justice, squanders our resources and undermines basic values of fairness. Please Donate now to support our efforts to put an end to the death penalty once and for all.

Sincerely,

P.S.  Take your support of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty to the next level by becoming a Torchbearer. Torchbearers donate monthly to our organization and are the backbone of the critical work we do each day.  Click here to become a Torchbearer today!