Luis´ Family

Luis´ parents sold their home to pay part of the costs of Luis´ trial attorney who represented Luis between 1979 and 1981. This left Luis´ entire family financially devestated.
Luis has seen his two children only five times over the past eighteen years. He was divorced from his wife in 1981. He has seen his parents only once on the past ten years and hasn´t seen two of his brothers or his sister in over fifteen years.
Luis now has two grandchildren but has only seen one of them. Unfortunatley, Luis´ family cannot afford the travel expenses to visit Luis in such a remote location. 

What You Can Do To Help

In jail, Luis has become a writer and an artist. He made several paintings while being on the San Quentin Death Row, but since he was tranfered to Pelican Bay, he has unfortunately not been able to paint due to prison  restrictions in jail. Luis no longer has an attorney. He has been recently forced to file a new petition for a writ of habeas corpus by himself and he urgently needs to hire a lawyer to assist him with this procedure. He made several paintings while being on the San Quentin Death Row, but since he was transferred to Pelican Bay, he has unfortunately not been able to paint due to prison restrictions.
Luis needs your help. Support Luis and his family by sending a donation to help us obtain justice and freedom. Help us to resolve past and continuing legal debts and to hire investigators and attorneys to help Luis. 
Your donations will also help us to continue publicizing and exposing this injustice internationally, to build supprt for Luis while he is in prison. Volunteers are also needed to help with typing, photocopying, reserach, computer work, private investigations, legal assistance, printing, etc. Or if you are interested in creating L.V.R. support groups, contact Luis directly or his family. 

Luis is also in need of correspondence, food packages, and other necessities. 

Contact Luis directly at:
Luis V. Rodriguez
# C - 33000
P.O. Box 409000
IONE, CA 95640
USA

Money orders can be adressed at :
Luis V. Rodriguez Defense Fund
c/o Saeed Ghezavat
P.O. Box 72258
Oakland, CA 94612
USA
 

Letters of support and expressing protestations to the emotional, physical, and psychological mistreatment and injustice Luis has continued to be subjected to, can be sent directly to the following officials (please send a copy of you letters to the Luis V. Rodriguez Defense Fund address).


We ask all the justice minded persons to please write to Governor Davis and for a review of Luis' case

Governor Gray Davis
State Capitol, Fl. 1
Sacramento, CA 95814
USA

Sample letter :

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RE : Luis V. Rodriguez, California inmate # C-33000

Dear Governor Davis,

I am writing to you regarding the case of Luis Valenzuela Rodriguez, a Chicano/Apache inmate who has been wrongly incarcerated in California since 1978.

Mr Rodriguez was tried and sentenced to death in 1981 for allegedly murdering two California Highway Patrolmen, based upon the sole testimony of his co-defendant who had entered a plea bargain to escape a conviction. His jury deliberated for over a month declaring a deadlock again and again. The jurors were subjected to judicial coercion and to juror misconduct and only then did they return a guilt verdict.

Mr Rodriguez' direct appeal was reviewed by the California Supreme Court in October 1986, at the peak of an intense media attack, alleging "undue solicitude for criminal defendants", against Justices Bird, Grodin and Reynoso who, just a few weeks later, were to face the electorate for a reconfirmation vote. The Court majority (4-3) denied the appeal, thereby overruling a prior Supreme Court decision, which banned judicial coercion on a deadlocked jury.

In 1988, Judge Joseph Karesh, who had presided over the trial and had sentenced Rodriguez to death, vacated the convictions and ordered a new trial, thereby publicly aknowledging his original judgement as an error. However, the California Court of Appeals reversed his decision and remanded the case for resentencing only. In 1991, faced with the task of deciding a penalty, Judge Karesh stated for the record that the testimony of the key prosecution witness was "inherently unbelievable" and that "the remaining circumstancial evidence [was] conflicting and insufficient to support a verdict of guilty." Based on the facts and on his "lingering doubt as to the defendant's guilt and nagging sense of [his] innocence" Judge Karesh resentenced Mr Rodriguez to Life Without the Possibility of Parole.

Mr Rodriguez has been maintaining his innocence for 21 years. His prints were found nowhere at the crime scene. When arrested within 48 hours of the murders, his body showed no evidence (bruses, cuts) of having been involved in a violent altercation with two highly trained police officers. The results of the tests conducted on his fingernails for gunpowder residues were negative, yet Mr Rodriguez was said by the key prosecution witness to have fired at least 7 times... Many questions regarding this case remain unanswered as, for instance, several pieces of evidence which designate another suspect.

The facts and history of Mr Rodriguez' case clearly indicate that without a political context there could have never been a conviction. Because of the public outrage over the murders of two police officers, and the furor that resulted, this was a case that demanded a thorough investigation and a dispassionate judicial review. Yet, not only was Mr Rodriguez' contitutional right to a fair trial violated, but it appears that the police investigators and the prosecutors manufactured false evidence in order to convict him.

Mr Governor, in light of the findings of several judges who called it a miscarriage of justice, I urge you to order a review of Mr Rodriguez' case and to allow the truth and justice to prevail.

I should be grateful if you would bring your attention to this matter and I look forward to receiving your reply.

Sincerely,

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